Date:	Wednesday 2 January 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk XI
Owner/operator:	16 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PM125
MSN:	ALD.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Petersfield, East Hampshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Spitfire PR. XI PM125: Built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Supermarine) at Aldermaston with Merlin M70 engine. To RAF Benson, Oxfordshire 27-11-44. To 16 Squadron 20-9-45 at RAF Celle, Lower Saxony, West Germany (as part of the BAFO - British Armed Forces of Occupation).

Written off (destroyed) 2-1-46 after engine failed (due to airlocks in the fuel system) and the Spitfire crashed at Petersfield, East Hampshire. Aircraft made a wheels-up belly landing (forced landing) in a field. Destroyed by fire on ground; re-cat E(FA) and struck off charge 31-1-46. Pilot - Group Captain J B Johnson.

Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 15 miles (24 km) north of Portsmouth. Petersfield is situated in the valley of the Western Rother, on the Lower Greensand at the northern edge of the South Downs. The town lies at the western end of the Greensand Ridge, a sandstone ridge running through Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

NOTE: Some sources state that the pilot was killed, but the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) have no record of any deaths of a pilot with this name on 2-1-46. Despite these reports, Group Captain J B Johnson was NOT killed in the incident, but survived with minor injuries (cuts, bruises, and minor burn injuries)

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.25 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.21
3. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
4. 16 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-2-45 to 31-12-46: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/225: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2502860
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.93: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. http://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/PM125
7. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html
8. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p088.html
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PM125
10. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/91591-pm125
11. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._16_Squadron_RAF#Post_war

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Sep-2013 02:56	JINX	Added
27-Mar-2015 18:55	Jixn	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
07-Oct-2018 23:26	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
30-Oct-2018 05:23	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
27-Sep-2020 21:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]