Spitfire AB177 at Scorton airfield.
At 14.55hrs on 14th May 1942 the pilot of this 167 Squadron aircraft mistakenly attempted to take off from Scorton airfield with the propeller in a fully course pitch. The aircraft would not become airborne and it struck the boudary fence and then a tree on the airfield boundary. This pilot had had two endorsements made against him for incidents that occurred while training at 55 OTU. He was deemed at fault for this incident at Scorton and was assessed as being unsuitable for operational flying on the Spitfire type. One of these earlier incidents was to Hurricane P2906.
Pilot - Sgt Jack Ford RAFVR (1272313).
Spitfire AB177 was built to contract B.19713/39 by Vickers Armstrong's (Supermarine) Ltd., at Eastleigh, it was first test flown on 7th December 1941 and two days later it was flown to 39 MU at Colerne. It was initially taken on charge by 123 Squadron on 5th January 1942 at Castletown but on 11th April 1942 123 Squadron left for the Middle East leaving behind AB177. On 16th April 1942 it was taken on charge by 167 Squadron at Scorton not long after the squdron formed. As a result of the mishap there on 14th May 1942 the damage was deemed too severe to repair it, it was assessed and Cat.E/FA damage recorded and struck off charge five days later.