Spitfire ER891 at Sherburn in Elmet airfield.
On 7th November 1942 this aircraft was being ferried from the Vickers factory at Castle Bromwich to No.45 Maintenance Unit (at Kinloss) by an ATA pilot from No.7 Ferry Pilot Pool. The aircraft landed at Sherburn in Elmet airfield where it was presumably to be left overnight, refuelled and then be flown onward the following day. By 17.00hrs the pilot had left the cockpit and an engineer took his place in the seat to move the aircraft around the airfield but had no one holding onto the tail. While moving the aircraft it ran into some boggy ground, the wheels dug into the ground and the aircraft tipped up onto it's nose sustaining minor damage.
Pilot (Engineer) - FO T Preston ATA.
Spitfire ER891 was built to contract B.981687/39 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd. at Castle Bromwich. On 6th November 1942 it was allotted to 45 MU at Kinloss and the following day it was being ferried north by a pilot from No.7 Ferry Pilot Pool (based at Sherburn in Elmet). As a result of the mishap at Sherburn later in the day minor Cat.A/FA damage was the result of any assessment and it would have been repaired on site there. On 28th November 1942 the repair was complete and it was flown to 222 MU at High Ercall for packing. On 18th December 1942 it was transported by SS Empire Clive to West Africa where it had arrived a month later and was received by 116 MU (AAU) at Takoradi, Gold Coast on 23rd January 1943. On 9th February 1943 the aircraft had been re-assembled by Middle East Air Command. On 1st November 1943 it was transferred to Northwest African Air Force HQ who, on paper, was based at Algiers though it did not necessarily have it's base there. On 14th December 1943 it was damaged as Cat.B/FA when it hit a truck on take off from Foggia, Italy. At that time Foggia was a USAAF 15th A.F. airfield). After this damage it was bot repaired and remained there until being struck off charge on 31st August 1944.