Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Hello All,

Adriano: I confirm that, according to Shore's "Fighters over Tunisia", the name of the wingman of W/C Gleed is SGT J K ROSTANT.
VoyTech: thank you for the clarification.

Regards
Marco

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Hi Leendert

Being very late to this thread, I have some questions regarding the Spitfire losses this date.
AB502 certain (unit and date fits)
ER116 certain (unit and date fits)
ER858 certain (unit and date fits)
EP702 ??????? All I have on this Spitfire is that it went to Malta passing Gibraltar and was damaged on this date. Why do you link it to Tunisia? Have you any additional data for this?
ER502 ??????? All I have on this Spitfire is that
a) it was used by 601/225 Sqn and SOC 26.4.45 (Halley, Air Britain) or
b) it was sent on vessel Camaratha Leith to Takoradi where it arrived on 14.12.1942. Transferred to the Middle East on 1.1.1943. No units known but lost on 16.4.1943. Same question here, why do you link it to Tunsia?
It seems Halley has made a mistake here and version b is correct...

Cheers
Stig

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Stig,

Linking EP702 and ER502 to just Tunisia has been optimistic from my part.
Looked for Spitfires lost/damaged on 16-4-43 in N Africa area in the first place to get Adriano on the way.

According spitfires.ukf.net ER502 FTR Middle East without detail, and for EP702 it says damaged by enemy aircraft. I assume for the latter that it was in the N. Africa area, because it had passed Gibraltar earlier.

Regards,

Leendert

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

The individual record card for each RAF aircraft (Form 78) which was held in the UK does not record allocations to squadrons in North Africa or MTO. Normally the card will record only the date despatched from UK to wherever (Takoradi or Casablanca) and the date that it was confirmed as arriving ie the details in Stig's (b). The card may record other bits of info for example from censuses that were undertaken or the date the a/c was lost or SOC.

The details of sqn allocations for a/c sent to MTO and recorded by Jim Halley in the AB books will have been collected by going through all the sqn ORBs so that is almost certainly where the details "601/225" in Stig's (a)come from.

I would say that it is quite possible that both sets of info at (a) and (b) apply to the same a/c ie it was shipped to Takoradi; it was presumably air ferried to Egypt and then confirmed "on charge Middle East". AB suggests that it was then issued to 601Sqn and at some point transferred to 225Sqn.

Like all clerical systems there is always room for error and board members will be aware of many errors in recording of a/c serials in ORBs.

Steve

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Thanks Steve

You are absolutely right, I should have checked the whereabouts of 601 Sqn AND 225 as well, since both were sent to NA. I wonder from where the written off date of ER502 is to be found?

Thanks Leendert

Not saying you're wrong, just that our sources don't 100% nail any if these two losses to this combat, just that they occured the same day...

Cheers
Stig

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

SGT J K Rostant was my grandfather known as Keith Rostant. And can confirm he was wingman to Gleed. Keith died about 8 years ago in Scotland.

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

I've been doing some research on the Rostant family. I'm pretty sure that JK Rostant's real name was John Keith Rostant. Any official records would probably have used that name.

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Hello,

Re: The identity of W/C J Darwen's Kittyhawk, lost on 7 October, 1943. HMAW4/Shores et al, page 402 has the following:

Thursday, 7 October 1943.

British Casualties.

239 Wg - Kittyhawk II left 1625, shot down by flak in the Palata area; Wg Cdr J. Darwen DSO, DFC and bar, KiA.

260 Sqn - Kittyhawk III FR868 left 1625, shot down by flak in the Palata area(No 2 to Wg Cdr Darwen) Sgt K. R. Trevelyan KiA.

It is known that Kittyhawk III FR868 was Darwen's personal a/c, marked "JD". Seems strange that Sgt Trevelyan was flying Darwen's personal aircraft. Can someone confirm which aircraft W/C Darwen was flying on 7 October, 1943?

Col.

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...298#post130298

I wnt through AB's Kittyhawk serial numbers AK,AL,ET,EV,FL,FR, FS,FT,FX, for 260 Sqn.
Could only find these for October '43.
FL237 - damaged by flak 7/10/43, not repaired.
FR850 - Hit by flak, belly landed - 6/10/43.
FR858 - S/d by flak 7/10/43.

Re: 16th April 1943 - Mediterranean Spit losses
 

Col

You are probably correct, 260 for October continued their practice of not mentioning serial numbers or even code letters at all for another few months. They don't mention Darwen at all, unlike 112 which lists him when he flew with them, including the details of his aircraft. This leaves the question, which may not be fully answered until the Air 81's are out for the events, of what the other a/c lost was, and who was in what aircraft. I would agree the probability is Darwen was in FR868.

Russ