[Martin Gleeson]

Marco, thank you for bringing that very interesting photo of P3426 ‘B’ to our attention.
(By the way, is that a wooden propeller on a P-series Hurricane ?).

A lot to say on P3426 ‘B’, etc., but unfortunately not much to reveal.
Firstly there is no evidence I know of that proves P3426 ‘B’ ever served with 85 Squadron. This was a replacement aircraft sent to France, probably without any coding and certainly no unit codes. The ‘B’ was almost certainly applied by the unit that received it in France.

I have seen EBay photos of a wrecked Hurricane coded ‘VY-B’ on an airfield, but the serial was not readable. The wheels were down, the propeller blades intact and the wings removed. Most units in France over the duration of the campaign had two or more aircraft using the same individual letter.

The Hurricane that Pilot Officer Shrewsbury died in crashed ‘around midday’ into the rear of houses at 217-219 Rue de Bapaume, Arras. It was speculated by the RAF postwar that this Hurricane and another flown by Acting Squadron Leader Peacock were probably destroyed together in the explosion of a fuel dump they were strafing at the time. The above information comes from the AIR 81/637 personnel casualty file for Shrewsbury. No conclusive but the best to date. The Hurricane serial was not recorded. I believe the late Heinrich Weiss was the source for attributing P3426 to Shrewsbury, as seen in ‘TWELVE DAYS IN MAY’ (p. 284) by Brian Cull, Bruce Lander and Heinrich Weiss.

The above authors on the same page also have Pilot Officer Burton in ‘P2427’, but as noted elsewhere this was a Miles Magister. I speculate this might have been a typo for ‘P3427’. A Hurricane that was also lost in France, unit unknown. Burton was lost apparently around 3.30 p.m. Unusually he and Shrewsbury share the same AIR 81/637 casualty file.

One further point. Though information is sketchy I must add the following on ‘Tangmere’. During May and June 1940 no Station Flights had Hurricanes on strength, only one or two Miles Magisters or similar. A month or two later during the Battle of Britain some stations possibly had the odd fighter on hand if not officially on strength.
During May and June 1940 replacement Hurricanes were ferried to France from various Maintenance Units in the UK and were mainly routed through Tangmere. Here the ferry pilots were briefed (where to go) and the aircraft refuelled, then sent on their way. The RAF in England when dispatching these Hurricanes to France did not know what units would wind up flying them, so ‘Tangmere’ became the last known ‘owner’ for want of a better term as information on their service in France rarely came back.
It seems ‘Manston’ also served in a similar but more limited way.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.