Date:	Tuesday 8 January 1946
Time:	dusk
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk XIV
Owner/operator:	6 Sqn RIAF
Registration:	TZ156
MSN:	6S 676521
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	near RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand -   India
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RIAF Kohat, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (Pakistan)
Destination airport:	RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
TZ156: Spitfire FR. XIV, MSN 6S 676521. Built by Vickers Armstrong (Supermarine) at Aldermaston with Griffon G65 engine. To 39MU RAF Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire 25-7-45. To 82MU RAF Lichfield, Fradley, Staffordshire 13-8-45 for packing and crating for overseas shipment. Shipped on the SS 'City of Hong Kong' 26-8-45, arriving India 17-9-45. To ACSEA (Air Command South East Asia) 20-9-45. To 6 Squadron RIAF at RIAF Kohat, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (now Pakistan) from 1-11-45

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 8-1-46 when wrecked in a forced landing near Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. During the move of 6 Squadron RIAF from RIAF Kohat, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, British India (now Pakistan) to RIAF Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, the pilot became lost due to the onset of dusk. Unable to find RIAF Ranchi in the gathering darkness, the pilot was unable to fix his position to, or recover for a safe landing at, RIAF Ranchi, and therefore he force-landed the Spitfire in a field near RIAF Ranchi Jharkhand, India when the fuel state became critical

Crew of Spitfire TZ156
Pilot Officer (IND/3066) Tylden Osborne Wynne RIAF (Pilot, aged 23 at the time) - survived uninjured.

The pilot survived this incident unharmed, but was killed on active service 20-8-51 as one of the eleven crew on board lost in the crash of B-24 Liberator HE-790 at Pune, India (see separate entry)

Spitfire TZ156 was not repaired; Struck off Charge 14-2-46

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.30
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.102: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/80243-tz156
7. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=TZ156
8. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/TZ156
9. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Aircraft/TZ156
10. https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3066
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._6_Squadron_IAF#History
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranchi

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