Date:	Thursday 8 February 1951
Time:	11:40
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk XIX
Owner/operator:	237 OCU RAF
Registration:	PM614
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Linch Ball Hill, Bepton, 3 miles SW of Midhurst, West Sussex, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Benson, Oxfordshire (EGUB)
Destination airport:	Arundel, West Sussex
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
PM614: Spitfire PR.XIX. Delivered to the RAF at 6MU Brize Norton 31-10-45. To VAEA (Vickers Amstrong Eastleigh) 27-1-48 for Trial Installation of Modification 1677. To FCCS (Fighter Command Communications Squadron) 4-6-48. To RAF Leuchars 2-9-49. Then to 237 OCU RAF Bassingbourn 25-7-50.

Written off (destroyed) 8-2-51: Flew into hill (Linch Ball Hill) on low level PR training in bad visibility at Bepton, three miles south west of Midhurst, West Sussex. The pilot was killed. According to a transcript of a local newspaper report ("Isle of Wight County Press" 17 February 1951):

"Died in Air Crash
Carisbrooke Family Bereaved

The death occurred in an air crash near Midhurst Sussex, on Thursday last week of Flying Officer David John Muff, aged 23, of 237 Unit, R.A.F. Station, Benson, Oxford, husband of Mrs. M. Muff, of Fern Bank, Gunville Road, Carisbrooke. Flying Officer Muff was well known and popular in the district, and was a member of the Newport St. Thomas’s Bible Class, where on Sunday tribute was paid to him by the Leader (Mr. F. Cheverton) and the hymn “For all the saints” was sung.

At a inquest at Midhurst on Monday a verdict of death by misadventure was recorded.—William George Bradshaw, of Lynch Farm, Bepton, said that a about 11.45 a.m. on Thursday week he saw a fighter aircraft flying fairly low towards Linch Ball Hill. The plane came out of cloud and mist and disappeared into mist again near the top of the hill. He heard the engine stop, but there were no sounds of a crash, and it did not strike him that the plane was low enough to hit the hill.

F/Lt. Douglas Ivan Slade, flight commander 237 Unit, said he had instructed Muff to fly from Benson to Arundel via Newbury. Flying Office Muff had signed the usual form regarding the satisfactory condition of the aircraft. They had received a weather forecast, but the weather proved worse than the report suggested.

Police evident showed that the top of the hill, which was 818 ft. high, was obscured by cloud and mist. The funeral took place on Wednesday, a service at Carisbrooke Church, conducted by the Vicar (the Rev. D. S. McKenzie) preceding interment at the cemetery. The Vicar paid tribute to F/O Muff and conveyed the sympathy of the Vicar and congregation of Newport Parish Church to his widow and relatives"
Crew:
F/O (579465) David John MUFF (pilot) RAF- killed /buried at Carlsbrooke Cemetery, Isle of Wight.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.111 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
3. Last Take Off; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953 by Colin Cummings p.113
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p089.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bepton
6. https://www.foncc.org.uk/burials/research/mj_muff_12805.pdf
7. https://www.foncc.org.uk/burials/grave-search/record.php?rec=23130
8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38605/supplement/2285/data.pdf

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Sep-2013 03:35	JINX	Added
12-Jul-2014 01:05	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Narrative]
05-Apr-2015 10:56	Weeks	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Narrative]
12-Jul-2019 19:29	Anon.	Updated [Time]
10-Jan-2021 21:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Jan-2021 21:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport]
30-Sep-2022 18:30	Nepa	Updated [Location, Narrative, Operator]