[Icare9]

FAIREY Battle. Serial Number K9271; 103 Squadron. Codes: PM-G
Operation Reconnaissance. 27th September 1939
Airborne from Challerange. Forced-landed at a French airfield near the Maginot Line after being badly shot about by Me 109s near the German border. Sgt Vickers was critically wounded and died of his injuries 5th Oct3 1939. His French decoration was the first to be made to a member of the AASF. F/O A.L. Vipan Sgt J.H. Vickers, Medaille Militaire, Inj; AC1 J.E. Summers.

On September 27, three Battles 58 from 'A' Flight of 103 Squadron (Challerange, one of the most forward A.A.S.F. bases, near Verdun) were reconnoitring the frontier between Bouzonville and the Rhine at 3,000 ft. when they were attacked by three French Curtiss Hawks which came out of a cloud. The formation leader, FlU M. C. Wells, fired his recognition lights and brought his flight down until it was flying close to the ground. After the first attack the French aircraft broke away, presumably having identified the Battles. At this point the Battles were engaged by three Bf. 109s which suddenly appeared 'out of the blue'. Sgt Vickers, navigator of Battle K9271, flown by F/O Vipan, was badly wounded and in great pain, and so Vipan, whose engine was already failing, forced-landed in a field. On the way down, apparently, one of the enemy fighters presented itself as a sitting target, and the air-gunner sent it down in a spin to equal the score. (Me 109 pilot believed to be Obergefreite Josef Scherm) Vipan landed, on one wheel, in a field close to a Maginot Line fort, and saw a French poilu running towards him, shouting in Cockney: 'Blimey, Guv'ner, you're bloody lucky.' The wounded navigator was removed from the aircraft, and the Frenchman then explained his Cockney accent and command of English bad language by saying that he had lived in Chelsea. Later, more French soldiers arrived and, pointing to a dense column of smoke from a nearby wood, said that was the Messerschmitt which Vipan's gunner had brought down with them. A French report later confirmed this. Vipan's navigator, Sgt Vickers, subsequently died in hospital as a result of his wounds, but just before he died he was awarded the Medaille Militaire by order of General Gamelin, the French Generalissimo. This was the first French decoration awarded to the B.E.F. in World War II.

Name: VICKERS, JOHN HENRY
Initials: J H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (Obs.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Unit Text: 103 Sqdn.
Age: 24
Date of Death: 05/10/1939
Service No: 516606
Additional information: Son of Henry Guy and Gertrude Vickers; husband of Peggy Vickers, of Withernsea, Yorkshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 1A. B. 14.
Cemetery: CHOLOY WAR CEMETERY.

Unfortunately, the pilot did not survive the war:-
Name: VIPAN, ARTHUR LUSHINGTON
Initials: A L
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Squadron Leader (Pilot)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Date of Death: 16/10/1944
Service No: 39191
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 15726.
Cemetery: CAMBRIDGE CITY CEMETERY
These may be associated with his death, as no Sqdn, presumably an HCU....
BURNSIDE S 1822420 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
CHAPPELL WH 1602941 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
FALCONER DJ 77912 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE
HEWITT PN 1812711 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
HUDSON HD 1813316 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
SHAW T 1322382 - 16/10/1944 ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE

I get the feeling that at least two OTU crews were lost that day/night