Date:	Monday 6 May 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	19 Sqn RAF
Registration:	SL601
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Lubeck, Lubeck, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany -   Germany
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Lubeck, Schleswig-Holstein
Destination airport:	RAF Lubeck, Schleswig-Holstein
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
SL601: Spitfire LF XVI, built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M266 engine. To 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 23-8-45. First issued for service to 126 (Persian Gulf) Squadron, RAF Hethel, Norfolk 6-3-46. However, 126 Squadron disbanded less than one week later, on 10-3-46. Thence to 19 Squadron, RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire 21-3-46. 19 Squadron RAF were based at RAF Lubeck between 2-5-46 and 29-6-46 with the Spitfire LF XVIe.

Written off 6-5-46 when crashed on landing at RAF Lubeck, Lubeck, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany. On final approach, the pilot "held off" from committing to a landing for too long, keeping the Spitfire too high above the runway. The aircraft then stalled and landed heavily on the runway at Lubeck, the "hard landing" causing the undercarriage to collapse.

Damage assessed as Cat B 6-5-46. To 3BRU 9-5-46 for repairs. Repairs abandoned, airframe re-cat E 12-6-46 and Struck Off Charge

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.41 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.136
3. 19 Squadron ORB for the period 1-1-46 to 31-12-50: National Archives (PRO Kew) file AIR 27/2402/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8419272
4. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.99: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p099.html
6. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=SL601
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/SL601
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/90122-sl601
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._126_Squadron_RAF#Reformation_in_World_War_II
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._19_Squadron_RAF#Cold_War
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCbeck_Airport#Early_years

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Jun-2023 08:48	Nepa	Updated
16-Sep-2023 12:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated