Gentlemen,
I've been running a separate thread on this on RAFCommands, but for completeness here this may be of interest:
(a) At the time 183 Squadron was based at Thorney Island (see
http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-T.htm#Thorney), so the two RAF aircraft were almost certainly vectored to the 'hostile' targets by the appropriate Chain High/Low station. I've not seen Taylor's combat report, which would give the time of his action, but since he was airborne between 1500 and 1600 hours it seems too much of a coincidence that the two Mustangs were lost in the same vicinity (south of the Isle of Wight) during that period - they were last heard from at 1517 hours.
The MACR for the lead pilot of the two missing Mustangs, 1st Lt James Lynch, includes a statement from his element leader (1st Lt Evan Johnson) who last heard heard him calling 'Oilskin' for a fix at 1445 hours. 'Oilskin' was the HQ of 66th Fighter Wing at Sawston Hall, and Lynch's base airfield, Fowlmere, was one of its units.
Oilskin ordered Lynch to '
go to Channel 'C' and transmit for a fix on that channel', after which Johnson heard no more transmissions. Lynch undoubtedly made in contact with a radar station after this time as the MACR records his last known whereabouts was 5 miles south of the Isle of Wight at 1517 hours. This being the case it is unlikely Lynch, and his wingman, 2nd Lt Gordon Perry, were lost due to a navigational error.
Although the
Fighter Command War Diaries states Taylor's action took place 40 miles south of the Isle of Wight, this must be questionable as that places it in the vicinity of Cherbourg; too close to the French coast, I would have thought, to warrent a section being scrambled. The MACR places the loss as being 5 miles south of the Isle of Wight at 50 deg 40 min N, 1 deg 10 min W, although if the MACR position is based on a fix rather than a definite report there is probably room for some error. The 183 Sqn ORD gives no indication as to the location.
(b) The MACRs for Lynch and his wingman, Perry, (5207 & 5208) both include a map on which the last known contact (at 50 deg 40 min N, 01 deg 10 min W) is plotted as being south of the Isle of Wight. This is definitely an error as 50 deg 40 min N, 01 deg 10 min W is over land, just northwest of the northwest outskirts of Sandown.
We are thus left with one definite positional error, and a questionable one. The evidence increasingly points to a tragic mistake.
Neither of the 183 Sqn pilots, both Canadians, survived the war; Taylor was killed on D-day and Humphrey on 17 August 1944.
The two Mustang serials were 42-106626 and 42-106754.
Brian