Spitfire ES147 at Church Fenton airfield.
This aircraft was built at the Vickers factory at Castle Bromwich. It was allotted to No.45 Maintenance Unit at Kinloss and on 16th November 1942 a pilot of No.6 Ferry Pilot Pool, ATA was given the task of collecting the aircraft from the factory and flying it to Kinloss. The aircraft landed at Church Fenton airfield at 15.45hrs where it was probably going to be refuelled and remain overnight. While it was being taxied at Church Fenton airfield some cyclists passed in front of the aircraft on the perimeter track, the pilot turned the aircraft off the perimeter track to avoid them but ran into an area of soft ground and the aircraft tipped up onto it's nose.
Pilot - SO Ramchamdra Murlidhar Badhe ATA (M.560).
Ramchamdra Murlidhar Badhe was born in 1905, he was the son of Murlidharpunt and Laxmibai Badhe and was of Indian descent. Prior to joining the ATA he gained a Master of Science degree at Nagpur University. He was killed on 20th January 1943 flying Henley L3408 that crashed in poor visibility near Meathop, Westmoreland on a ferry flight from Rearsby to RNAS Twatt. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, Middlesex.
Spitfire ES147 was built to contract B.981687/39 by Vickers Armstrong's Ltd., at Castle Bromwich and was collected to be delivered to 45 MU at Kinloss by a 6 Ferry Pilot Pool pilot on 16th November 1942. As a result of the damage on 16th November 1942 Cat.A/FA was recorded following assessment and it was repaired on site. On completion of the repairs it was flown to 222 MU at High Ercall on 11th December 1942 for packing. On 20th December 1942 it was loaded on SS Hamble VI for shipping to Middle East. On 13th January 1943 it arrived at Gibraltar where it was assembled by 237 MU. On 28th February 1943 it was taken on charge by Northwest African Airforce, HQ at Algiers (though it was not necessarily based there). On 12th April 1943 it was lost when it failed to return from an operational flight and Cat.E(m) damage was recorded.