Date:	Friday 10 December 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	2 Sqn RAF
Registration:	NH897
MSN:	6S 648199
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hangelar, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, BZG, West Germany -   Germany
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
NH897: Spitfire FR. XIV, MSN 6S 648199. Built at Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Hursley Park, Winchester, Hampshire with Griffon G65 engine. To 29MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 22-3-45. To 2 Squadron, RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany 19-4-45. To 3BRU for modifications 5-9-46, after which returned to 2 Squadron at RAF Celle by October 1946

Written off (destroyed) 10-12-48 when engine failed and aircraft crashed in force-landing on disused airfield at Hangelar, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia BZG, West Germany. The engine of Spitfire NH897 failed due to a breakdown of the magneto in the engine. The pilot made a forced landing on ploughed land on the disused airfield at Hangelar, Bonn. The aircraft struck the ground in a slightly nose-down attitude. After traveling for a few yards, the aircraft's wing and nose dug into the earth, and the aircraft stopped abruptly. The pilot was thrown from the cockpit on to sharp projections, which cause fatal injuries. (Pilot killed)

Crew of Spitfire NH897
F/Lt Roy Turner (Canadian pilot) RAF - killed in active service 10-12-49;
buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Woking, Surrey

The "disused airfield" of Hangelar was later returned to use as Bonn-Hangelar Airfield (Flugplatzgesellschaft Hangelar mbH) (EKDB). After the turmoil of the Second World War, the airfield was put back into operation in 1951 with gliding operations, and the Federal Border Guard also came to Hangelar that year due to its proximity to Bonn (from 1949 the seat of government for West Germany). In 1952, the "Flugplatzgesellschaft Hangelar mbH" was founded. After the Federal Republic of Germany was released from the post war ban on powered aircraft, on 5-5-55, it was also possible for the German side to resume powered aviation. This was followed by a dynamic development of the Hangelar airfield in the motor and gliding sector; a temporary peak was recorded in the mid-1970s with almost 92,000 aircraft movements.

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.454
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft NA100-NZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. ORB 2 Sqdn RAF: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27
5. "RAF Write offs 1948": Air Britain Aeromilitaria No.1 1979: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p081.html
7. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/NH897
8. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80063-nh897
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=NH897
10. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-armed-forces/canadian-post-war-military-dependant-graves/details/1233
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._2_Squadron_RAF#Cold_War_(1945%E2%80%931988)
12. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flugplatz_Bonn/Hangelar (German text)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Aug-2023 20:09	Dr. John Smith	Added
14-Aug-2023 20:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated
14-Aug-2023 21:31	Nepa	Updated