Acaster Malbis airfield was in a poor state around the middle of March 1942. The weather around this date had been poor, it had snowed in the days before 12th March 1942 and while flying got underway the flying area was in a poor state with waterlogged areas of grass. The pilot of this 601 Squadron Spitfire BL961 that was due to have been flown on 13th March 1942 had recently flown Airacobras. The method he had of turning Airacobras was to lock the brake to one of the main wheels, to then use the engine power and the other flying controls so that it could be turned. At 15.00hrs on 13th March 1942 when the pilot tried the technique of turning combined with the wet and soft state of the ground saw the Spitfire simply tip onto it's nose. The wheel that the pilot was trying to had probably sunk into the ground and applying power to the engine with no one holding the tail simply saw it flip up onto it's nose.
Pilot - Sgt John Terrance Field RCAF (R/74784).