Date:	Sunday 6 January 1946
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc
Owner/operator:	1415 Met Flt RAF
Registration:	JL104
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	RAF Habbaniya, Lake Habbaniyah -   Iraq
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Habbaniya, Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq
Destination airport:	RAF Habbaniya, Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
JL104: Spitfire Vc, built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Merlin M50 engine. To 45MU RAF Kinloss, Morayshire 9-4-43/ To 215MU RAF Locharbriggs, Dumfries 17-4-43 for packing and crating for shipment overseas. Shipped on the SS 'Fort Douglas' 29-4-43, arriving Casablanca. Morocco 17-5-43. To RAF North West Africa Command 31-5-43. To 225 Squadron 15-10-44. To Communications Flight Iraq, Middle East 15-3-45. To 1415 Flight, RAF Habbaniya, Iraq in 1945

Written off (damaged beyond repair) 6-1-46 in a wheels-up landing at Habbaniya, Iraq: cause was pilot error. The pilot failed to fully operate the undercarriage lever, so that the undercarriage was not fully "down and locked". To compound the error, the pilot failed to check that the undercarriage indicator lights was showing "three greens" (which would have confirmed that the undercarriage was fully "down and locked"). As a result, the undercarriage collapsed immediately upon touchdown at RAF Habbaniya

RAF Habbaniya (Arabic: قاعدة الحبانية الجوية), (originally RAF Dhibban), was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about 55 miles (89 km) west of Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah. It was developed from 1934, and was operational from October 1936 until 31-5-59 when the RAF finally withdrew after the July 1958 Revolution made the British military presence no longer welcome

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.27
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft JA100-JZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 1415 (Meteorological Flight) RAF ORB for the period 1-8-1943 to 30-6-1946: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR29/865/5: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7161891
5. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.93: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1415_Flight_RAF
7. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/100739-jl104
8. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=JL104
9. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/JL104
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Habbaniya#History

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