Battle of Britain Spitfire Crash
 

Hello, this has just been posted on another site i visit.
Any Ideas ?

Since hearing the rattle of machine guns ,from two little dots in the sky,as a 10yo.I watched in horror as one of the dots became a Spitfire and went down vertically and crashed a couple of miles from our village of Biddenden Kent. I dont know the date in 1940 ,but I would like to know the name of the brave pilot killed.

Re: Battle of Britain Spitfire Crash
 

To get anywhere with this, you will have to pull it apart. For now, you have an eyewitness statement that somewhere within a two mile radius of Biddenden, Kent, an aircraft, described as a Spitfire, dived vertically into the ground, and that its pilot did not bale out. This was in the Battle of Britain.

The best way forward, if you really wish to find out who it was and what happened, is to contact the originator of the message and to establish where s/he was when he saw the crash. Was s/he at school (where?), in his/her parents garden (where) looking out of the bedroom (where), at a friends (who and where) whether it was after breadkfast, in the middle of lunch, or in the evening. If it was close enough for it to be recognised as a Spitfire. What about the pilot being killed. Did the pilot bale out and land dead? Was he in the wreckage? Did witness hear about this later on? Who from? - anything to get a bit of a handle which might narrow things down.


Why? Well, I do'nt know Biddenden, but at present you have a statement that an aircraft crashed in a c 16 square mile parcel of land centered on Biddenden. You'll be able to assemble a list of potential crash sites from that information alone.

Peter Cornwell and others will know locations, etc I am sure, but to be more certain that the crash site your 10 year old eyewitness is describing, you must have more data.

I witnessed a plane crash aged about 7 and when I envisage where I was dstanding at the time the time of day, direction, and eyewitness reaction comes back clearly.

best of luck

Chris Going

Re: Battle of Britain Spitfire Crash
 

Chris,
Its not my question i simply cut and pasted it from another site, if no answer is found...never mind.
Thanks for the Geography lesson though...much appreciated.