Date:	Friday 16 August 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR.XIV
Owner/operator:	9 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	TX974
MSN:	6S-675446
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India -   Pakistan
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India
Destination airport:	RIAF Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
TX974: Spitfire FR. XIV, MSN 6S-675446 Built at Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Eastleigh, Hampshire with Griffon G65 engine. To 29MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 23-8-45. To 47MU RAF Sealand, Flintshire 22-9-45 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. Shipped on the SS 'Ocean Verity' 7-11-45, arriving India 2-12-45. To ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia) 27-12-45. Then to 9 Squadron, RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India) by/om 31-1-46

Written off (destroyed by fire) due to an explosion on engine start-up at RIAF Peshawar, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India. A fuel leak in the engine ignited when the aircraft's engine was started up. Aircraft broke into two pieces and was totally burnt out. The pilot seems to have escaped uninjured

Crew of Spitfire TX974
F/O (IN/3180) Raj Kumar Bahadur Singh (pilot) RIAF - escaped uninjured.

Damage as Assessed as Cat. E 16-8-46, and aircraft struck off charge

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p,51 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.200
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 9 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-5-1945 to 30-6-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/139/25: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407802
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.102: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p114.html
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80168-tx974
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=TX974
9. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TX974
10. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/TX974.
11. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3180
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_Khan_International_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Jun-2023 17:32	Dr. John Smith	Added
11-Jun-2023 17:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated
12-Jun-2023 20:18	Nepa	Updated
15-Sep-2023 10:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated