Date:	Thursday 8 August 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk VIII
Owner/operator:	2 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	MD398
MSN:	CHA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RIAF Miranshah, North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa -   Pakistan
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Miranshah, North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
MD398: Spitfire LF. VIII, built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Eastleigh, Hampshire with Merlin M66 engine. To 9MU RAF Cosford, Shropshire 15-2-44. To 222MU 11-3-44 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Benreoch' 29-3-44, arriving India 12-5-44. To 2 Squadron, RIAF Miranshah, North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India) 1-4-45

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 8-8-46: the undercarriage collapsed after a tyre burst on take-off from RIAF Miranshah, and the aircraft violently swung off the runway. At the time, the Spitfire was carrying a pair of 500-lb bombs (one under each wing).

Crew of Spitfire MD398:
Flying Officer (IND/1918) Dewan Balwant Rai, RIAF (Pilot, aged 23) - survived uninjured

Damage assessed as Cat. E 8-8-46. Not repaired, Struck Off Charge 29-8-46. The pilot was later killed on 29-7-47 in the crash of Hawker Tempest PR534 at Shirawata Lake, near RAF Poona, India (see separate entry)

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.212
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.101: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. 2 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-4-45 to 30-6-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/28/21 https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8406458
6. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MD398
7. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=MD398
8. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/MD398
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/1918
10. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/89542-md398
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranshah

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Jun-2023 21:03	Dr. John Smith	Added
13-Jun-2023 08:24	Nepa	Updated
19-Jun-2023 18:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated
15-Sep-2023 10:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated