Date:	Saturday 20 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk VIII
Owner/operator:	1 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	MD400
MSN:	KEA.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Samungli, Quetta, Balochistan, British India -   Pakistan
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Samungli, Quetta, Balochistan, British India
Destination airport:	RAF Samungli, Quetta, Balochistan, British India
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
MD400: Spitfire LF.VIII, built by Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Keevil, Trowbridge, Wiltshire with Merlin M66 engine. To 6MU RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire 18-2-44. To 47MU RAF Sealand, Flintshire 5-3-44 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Benreoch' 29-3-44, arriving India 12-5-44. To 152 Squadron in Burma June 1944 coded "UM-M". To 273 Squadron, RAF Mangaldan, Burma in mid-May 1945 coded "MS-H". To 1 Squadron RIAF on or after 31-1-46 when 273 Squadron RAF disbanded.

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20-4-46: Bounced on landing and undercarriage raised to stop RAF Samungli, Quetta, Balochistan, British India (Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India). The aircraft was landing at RAF Samungli when it flew into the slipstream of the formation leader. The "wake turbulence" caused a loss of control, and a heavy landing, during which the tyre burst, the undercarriage collapsed, and the aircraft ground looped off the runway at RAF Samungli.

Crew of Spitfire MD400
Flying Officer (IN/1921) Baldev Singh Dogra (Pilot) RIAF - uninjured.

The pilot survived this incident, but was killed on 7-2-51 in a later accident when the Commanding Officer of 7 Squadron RAF when the DH.100 Vampire F.3 he was flying crashed near Palam, India (see separate entry).

Not repaired; Struck Off Charge 9-5-46 as Cat. E(FA)

RAF Samungli is now a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase located near Quetta, in the Balochistan province of Pakistan (British India before the 1947 partition of India).

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.127
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft MA100-MZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 1 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-1-1945 to 30-4-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/17: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2502648
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.98: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/89544-md400
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/MD400
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=MD400
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/MD400
10. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/1921
11. http://www.152hyderabad.co.uk/html/aircraft.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1_Squadron_IAF
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._152_Squadron_RAF#World_War_II
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._273_Squadron_RAF#Reformation_in_World_War_II
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAF_Base_Samungli#History

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jul-2023 18:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated
03-Jul-2023 16:30	Nepa	Updated
16-Sep-2023 13:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated