Date:	Friday 20 March 1953
Time:
Type:	Bristol Beaufighter TT Mk 10
Owner/operator:	3 CAACU RAF
Registration:	RD862
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Banner and glider towing
Departure airport:	RAF Exeter, Devon
Destination airport:	RAF Exeter
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Beaufighter RD862: (3 Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit RAF) Written off (damaged beyond repair) 20/3/1953 in a landing accident at RAF Exeter, Exeter, Devon.
During the landing run at RAF Exeter, the Beaufighter began to swing off the runway. The aircraft then ground-looped through 90 degrees, and the undercarriage collapsed.
Both crew (pilot and target winch operator) Ok.

Note: According to records at the RAF Museum, Hendon Beaufighter RD862 served with the Portugese Air Force between March 1945 and 1949, quote:
"A further Beaufighter (TF.X 'BF 17', ex RD862) was delivered 26 April 1946 after overhaul by Bristol, to replace one of the original batch, BF-7, that crashed due to engine failure on 22 October 1945. Esquadrilha B was disbanded in 1949 due to the poor condition of the remaining aircraft and its aircraft mostly scrapped, BF-17 being its last serviceable aircraft , making a final unofficial sortie in 1949", Beaufighter RD862/Portugese Air Force BF 17 was unique, in that it was equipped with radar, having a characteristic ‘thimble’ nose.

If this is the case, then it is not clear how or where RD862 was taken back on RAF charge and issued to 3 CAACU. Alternatively, the aircraft involved in the above incident was NOT Beaufighter RD862, but a completely different aircraft...one published Portugese source (see link #7) states that BF 17 (ex-RD862) was scrapped in Portugal in 1950.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain.
2. Last Take-off: A Record of RAF Aircraft Losses 1950 to 1953
3. Beaufighter By Simon W. Parry
4. https://www.key.aero/article/bullfighters
5. https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/74-A-13-Beaufighter-X-RD253.pdf
6. http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/b/296/11/0
7. https://aeronavesportuguesas.blogspot.com/2018/03/aviacao-naval-matriculas.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Apr-2021 23:21	Dr.John Smith	Added
20-Apr-2021 09:13	sicak	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
11-Jun-2022 09:57	Nepa	Updated [Time, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Operator]