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Re: Hurricane P2701
Hi guys,
I don't fully understand why this discussion is hopping around like this, but let me try to bring it back to the original question: why, where and when was the P2701 lost?
To me one thing is pretty sure from the new picture: the P2701 was located when found by Wehrmacht soldiers at Choisy-en-Brie, which is - as I explained in my earlier post - equivalent to the French (large) air force base La Ferté-Gaucher.
So this must have been an RAF Hurricane that was forced to land - probably damaged or out of fuel in some way - at this air field. Not necessarily during an operational flight, could also have been a transfer flight. It happened regularly that RAF aircraft landed at a French base, where mostly the British pilotes could take off the next day after a good French dinner, wine and refueling. For an unknown reason the P2701 apparently was not able to take off again, either through damage or developments on the ground.
The questions then are:
- when did this happen?
- to which squadron it belonged?
I fully accept Peter Cornwell's input that this plane was issued to No.85 Sqn on May 13, but all loss reports since then seem wrong as to this serial.
The question then remains what a No.85 Sqn Hurricane did as far east as La Ferté?
The only logical explanation I can think of is that the aircraft was transfered either directly or through a MU to another squadron. E.g. one operating more east and staying longer in France than No.85 Sqn, e.g. Nos.1, 73 or 501 Sqns. Transfer date latest May 20, when No.85 Sqn left France.
I buy the argument that towards the end of the campaign more aircraft did not carry their squadron code, so we have to look broader than just No.73 Sqn, unfortunately.
I would hope that the incident where a Hurricane had to be abandoned by its pilot at a French air field was noticeable enough to appear in the relevant squadron diary.
A separate, and equally difficult discussion, is which Hurricane was then flown by Allen on May 18 if it was not the P2701. But we should not mix those two discussions!
Cheers, Pieter
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