Date:	Friday 5 April 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk XIVe
Owner/operator:	35 Wg CF RAF
Registration:	NH907
MSN:	WIN.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	2 miles off Cap Gris-Nez, Audinghen, Côte d'Opale, Pas-de-Calais -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Destination airport:	RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
NH907: Spitfire FR. XIVe, built by Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Winchester, Hampshire with Griffon G65 engine. To 29MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 2-4-45. To 268 Squadron, Twente, Netherlands 26-4-45. In April 1945 the squadron at that time under the command of Squadron Leader C.T. P Stephenson DFC, moved from Mill to Twente and commenced re-equipment with the Supermarine Spitfire FR. XIVe, a dedicated reconnaissance version of the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine variant of the Spitfire. Cat C accident 12-5-45. Repaired and returned to service with 16 Squadron 1-11-45, at RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany. To the charge of 35 Wing Communications Flight 1-4-46 when 16 Squadron disbanded, still based at RAF Celle.

Written off (destroyed) 5-4-46 when hit sea flying in/under low cloud 2 miles off Cap Gris-Nez, Audinghen, Côte d'Opale, Pas-de-Calais, France. The aircraft was being flown at a very low level in order to stay below low clouds, in the prevailing adverse weather conditions. The Spitfire was being flown as low as 50 feet above the sea, but the pilot allowed the aircraft to descend still further, and the aircraft flew into the sea at high speed, and broke up on impact. The Pilot was killed; he was officially still on the strength of 16 Squadron RAF at the time of this incident, although the squadron had disbanded five days earlier.

Crew of Spitfire NH907
Flying Officer (199258) Louis Bernard Bradley (pilot) RAFVR - killed on active service 5-4-46, body not found/not recovered; commemorated at Panel 285, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey

Cap Gris-Nez ("cape grey nose") is a cape on the Côte d'Opale in the Pas-de-Calais Département in northern France. The 'Cliffs of the Cape' is the closest point of France to England – 34 km (21 miles) from their English counterparts at Dover.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.37 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.119
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft NA100-NZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 16 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-2-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2399: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505037
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.98: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1530296/louis-bernard-bradley/
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15246117/louis-bernard-bradley
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p081.html
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=4876
10. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80072-nh907
11. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/NH907
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._16_Squadron_RAF#Cold_War_(1946%E2%80%931991)
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_Gris-Nez

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Jul-2023 19:39	Dr. John Smith	Added
03-Jul-2023 19:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated
03-Jul-2023 21:35	Nepa	Updated
16-Sep-2023 14:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated