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Re: Downed Spit
Engelworth - At 1335 hrs 4th Sept 1940 Hurricane P3676 from 79 Sqdn crashed at the end of Wentworth Close.Ditton Hill, Surbiton. The pilot was Sgt. John Wright. He was rescued, but died the following day in Surbiton hospital. He is buried in the New Kilpatrick Cemetery, in his hometown of Bearsden, Dumbarton Scotland.
I lived throuout the war at No. 6 Wentworth Close and saw the Hurricane as it narrowly missed the roof of my house before crashing into the corner of No. 15, which was the home of the Eldridge family. The aircraft was not a Spitfire and no Spitfire crashed anywhere near Ditton Hill during the war !
At the time, it was believed that John Wright's Hurricane had been damaged during the raid on the Vickers factory at Brooklands 9 miles to the west at 1320 - 1325 hrs. but this was not the case. John Wright had been 'shot down' near his base at Biggin Hill returning from an interception with 20+ Bf 110s crossing the coast at Beachy Head.
For unknown reasons - having been damaged, he flew west for 10 miles and attempted to land on a playing field in nearby Tolworth but abandoned that as children were playing in the field. 1 mile later he crashed.
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