Date:	Tuesday 5 March 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	6 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	TZ162
MSN:	6S 676534
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Guldhar, Meerut Road Industrial Area, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh -   India
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Destination airport:	Guldhar, Meerut Road Industrial Area, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
TZ162: Spitfire FR.XIV, MSN 6S 676534. Built by Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Aldermaston with Griffon G65 engine. To 6MU RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire 28-7-45. To 82MU RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire 18-8-45 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Ocean Gallant' 17-9-45, arriving India 14-10-45. To ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia) 29-11-45. To 6 Squadron RIAF by/on 31-12-45

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 5-3-46: force landed due to engine failure at Guldhar, Meerut Road Industrial Area, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. The Spitfire made a successful forced landing, and was only slightly damaged. The pilot was unhurt. However, while Spitfire TZ162 was 'parked up", awaiting recovery - either by road or by repairs on site, allowing the aircraft to be flown out - it was looted and then set on fire by members of the local population, and thus destroyed by fire.

Crew of Spitfire TZ162
Flying Officer (IND2886) Terence Robert Healy RIAF (pilot) - safe and unharmed

Not repaired; Struck Off Charge 25-4-46 as Cat. E

Ghaziabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.88
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 6 Sqn RIAF ORB for the period 1-11-1945 to 30-4-1947: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/96/15: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407238
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.96: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p114.html
7. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/TZ162
8. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/2886
9. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TZ162
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghaziabad

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Jul-2023 17:22	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Jul-2023 08:30	Nepa	Updated
12-Sep-2023 11:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated
17-Sep-2023 16:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated