Date:	Monday 16 September 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF. IX
Owner/operator:	FCCS RAF
Registration:	MJ843
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Bovingdon, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bovingdon, Hertfordshire
Destination airport:	RAF Bovingdon, Hertfordshire

Narrative:
MJ843: Spitfire LF.IX, built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M66 engine. To 9MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 28-11-43. To 56 Squadron, RAF Newchurch, Kent 17-6-44 coded "US". To 442 (Canadian) Squadron 14-9-44 coded "RH". (In both cases, the individual aircraft letter was obscured by black and white D-Day "invasion stripes"). To FCCS (Fighter Command Communications Sqn) RAF Bovingdon, Hertfordshire in mid-1945 after 442 Sqn disbanded

Written off (destroyed) 16-9-46 when port wing and tailplane broke away in loop, and aircraft crashed at RAF Bovington, Hertfordshire. During recovery from a loop, the port wing and tailplane failed. It is believed that the pilot attempted to pull out of the loop too violently, and this was the cause of the structural failure of the airframe. Pilot killed.

Crew of Spitfire MJ843:
Flt/Lt (152668) Anthony Cresswell-Turner, RAFVR (pilot, aged 23) - killed on active service 16-9-46, buried at Hillingdon and Uxbridge Cemetery, Hillingdon, Middlesex

Aircraft written off and Struck Off Charge 8-10-46 as Cat. E(FA)

Pilot's Obituary November 17 1946:
"On Sept. 16. 1946, in a flying accident, Anthony Cresswell-Turner, Flt. Lt., R.A.F.V.R (Cocks's, C, 1937-41). Tony Cresswell-Turner is the third to go out of a group of eight who entered the same Social together. They were an exceedingly nice lot, and Tony was no exception. Though handicapped at the start as the result of an injury to an arm sustained before he came here, which prevented him from showing his paces as early or as fully as the others, he soon showed that there was no lack of spirit, and plenty of ideas, in him. Never by nature a thruster or self-seeker, he was. nevertheless, anything but colourless, and those who knew him well were aware that his was an interesting mind and personality.

After a full and useful career at school. he had a year at Cambridge, and then joined the R.A.F., flying having always been one of his interests. He eventually had a considerable spell of active service as pilot of a Spitfire, until he was shot down and taken prisoner, though his captivity lasted only for three weeks. It is sad to think that here is another who survived the dangers of flying in war only to lose his life by a flying accident in peace, and we sympathise deeply with his people - especially with his father, who is himself in the R.A.F. - on the loss of their very likeable and promising son".

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.71. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.218
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. FCCS RAF ORB for the period 1-1-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2570: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505208
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.103: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p068.html
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MJ843
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/85600-mj843
9. https://allspitfirepilots.org/pilots/2566
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2433305/anthony-cresswell-turner/
11. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44320045/anthony-creswell_turner
12. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=MJ843
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._56_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442_Transport_and_Rescue_Squadron#History
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bovingdon#Postwar_uses

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jun-2023 16:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Jun-2023 08:26	Nepa	Updated
13-Sep-2023 13:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated