Date:	Sunday 4 December 1949
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire F Mk 22
Owner/operator:	607 (County of Durham) Sqn RAF
Registration:	PK315
MSN:	CBAF.
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 3 miles off Seahouses, Northumberland, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Ouston, Northumberland
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
PK315: Spitfire F.22. Built by CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with Griffon G61 engine. To 33 MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 7-5-45. To A&AEE Boscombe Down 30-8-45. To VASM (Vickers Armstrongs South Marston) delivered by Squadron Leader Derry 14-10-46 for modifications. To 6MU RAF Brize Norton 4-5-47. To 607 (County of Durham) Squadron, RAF Ouston, Stamfordham, Northumberland 13-1-49

Written off (destroyed) 4-12-49: The aircraft was taking part in a six-aircraft high altitude formation sortie, and the formation levelled out at 28,000 feet. Spitfire PK315 lost station, and was seen to be weaving and turning below and behind the rest of the formation before diving away and crashing into the North Sea approximately three miles off Seahouses, Northumberland.

The subsequent Board of Inquiry concluded that the most likely cause of the accident was the pilot passing out due to anoxia (oxygen starvation) and never regaining consciousness.
Crew:
Pilot Officer (2685524) Leslie Oates (pilot) RAFVR killed in a flying accident 4-12-1949
R.I.P.

Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.25. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.559
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 607 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-6-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/2511: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505149
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p085.html
6. https://www.nelsam.org.uk/NEAR/Losses/Losses-PostWWII.htm
7. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/military/Crashes_in_Northern_England.pdf
8. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/PK315
9. https://www.avialogs.com/spitfire-and-seafire-registry/item/79523-pk315
10. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/raf-ww2-supermarine-spitfire-pk315-423193111
11. https://rauxaf.org/features-roll-of-honour-names-m-to-r/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahouses

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Sep-2013 19:39	JINX	Added
07-Sep-2013 03:17	JINX	Updated [Location]
02-Mar-2014 18:27	Nepa	Updated [Operator]
27-Dec-2014 02:52	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative]
27-Mar-2015 17:54	Jixon	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
31-Jul-2023 21:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]]
20-Aug-2023 08:57	Nepa	Updated [[[Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]]]