Date:	Thursday 20 November 1947
Time:	c. 12:15 LT
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI
Owner/operator:	603 (City of Edinburgh) Sqn RAF
Registration:	SL611
MSN:	CBAF.4693
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ill Crag, 1 km east of Scafell Pike, Cumberland -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Hawarden Airport (CEG/EGNR)
Destination airport:	Edinburgh Airport (EDI/EGPH)

Narrative:
SL611: Spitfire LF.XVI, MSN CBAF IX.4693. Built at CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) with a Merlin M266 engine. Delivered to 33MU RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire 20-8-45. To 111OTU 27-9-45. To 29MU RAF High Ercall, Shropshire 3-1-46. To 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, RAF Turnhouse, Edinburgh 19-2-47.

On 20-11-47, (53250) Flight Lieutenant Donald James Ott Loudon, AFC, RAF, aged 25, an instructor for No.603 (City of Edinburgh) Sqn had taken off from RAF Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire for a cross country flight (Navex) to RAF Turnhouse (now Edinburgh Airport) in Lothian, Scotland. He had landed at RAF Hawarden near Chester in the late morning to re-fuel before continuing on to Turnhouse. At some point not long after midday while flying in low cloud SL611 struck Ill Crag on Scafell Pike, Cumberland, and disintegrated, killing Flt Lt Loudon instantly.

The aircraft was reported overdue at Turnhouse and a search commenced for the missing Spitfire, but this was hampered by appalling weather. The search had concentrated on the Lake District but the aircraft was not spotted in the poor conditions and the search was after a few days scaled down and then called off. It was not until 1-5-48, 163 days after the aircraft had disappeared, that the wreck was discovered by a local farmer's son out tending sheep. The pilot's body was finally recovered and given a burial at Halton Churchyard, Halton, Wendover, Buckinghamshire. (Grave 172).

The aircraft was left where it had crashed until it was recovered by a RAF Puma helicopter, between April 12 and May 17, 1997. It was then acquired by Francesa Have, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, arriving there on July 31, 1997 to begin a restoration project. Mark Harris/Supermarine Aero Engineering Ltd, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, acquired SL611 on August 22, 1997, and it was still undergoing a long term rebuild in January 2005.

Reportedly under restoration to airworthy. The civil registration G-SAEA was reserved on 3 February 2015 to this airframe and an owner in the Stoke on Trent area, which would appear to confirm that the ambition to restore this Spitfire to flight is ongoing.

Ill Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. At 935 metres (3,068 ft), it is the fourth-highest peak in England, after Scafell Pike, Scafell, and Helvellyn. It forms part of the Scafell chain, and lies about 1 km east of Scafell Pike.

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.30 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.351
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft SA100-VZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. 603 Sqn RAF ORB for the period 1-7-1946 to 31-12-1950: National Archies (PRO Kew) file AIR27/2506: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505144
5. "RAF Write offs 1947": Air Britain Aeromilitaria No.2 1978: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1978.pdf
6. http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregistry/spitfire-sl611.html
7. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/sl611.html
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?14599-Missing-603-Sqn-Spitfire-20-November-1947
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/12925.php
10. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p099.html
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Supermarine_Spitfires#United_Kingdom
12. https://www.facebook.com/groups/443668002851669/posts/1070386960179767/
13. https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/lake-district/supermarine-spitfire-sl611-ill-crag/
14. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70131612/donald-james_ott-loudon
15. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2706450/loudon,-donald-james-ott/
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_Crag

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Jan-2015 22:27	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Mar-2015 18:06	Jixon	Updated [Operator]
28-Feb-2019 15:56	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
21-Nov-2019 00:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Source, Narrative]
06-May-2023 18:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Cn, Source, Narrative]]
08-Jul-2023 08:52	angels one five	Updated [[[Cn, Source, Narrative]]]
27-Aug-2023 21:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[[[Cn, Source, Narrative]]]]