[Mark E Horan]

Brian;

USS Wasp (CV-7), having disembarked most of her airgroup to HMS Sparrowhawk (RNAS Hatston), departed Scapa flow on 9 April 1942 bound for the Clyde, and arrived at Greenock on 10 April. On 13 April she loaded 47 RAF Spitfires at King George Dick, Glasgow and then, on 14 April she departed heading South for the Mediterranean.

With those facts in mind, the aircraft in question could not have come from Wasp herself, as the only USN aircraft retained aboard were F4F-4 fighter planes for defensive patrols.

While it is possible that a USN crew was lost flying from Hatston, my fairly detailed loss records for the Wasp Air Group do not indicate any USN plane was lost operating from there. It is worth noting, however, that Wasp's USN aircrew did fly numerous RN aircraft while at Hatston, as well as numerous training exercises in their own aircraft. It was during this period that the Wasp airgroup became familier, in a "first-hand" fashion, with the FAA night strike doctrine that they proceeded to indoctrinate themselves with and, ultimately, carried to the Pacific Fleet with them.

Mark E. Horan