[Peter Cornwell]

Alex,

Thanks, but you appear to be quoting the serials provided by Heinrich Weiss for Brian Cull’s work? I assure you that I did consult this during preparation of The Battle of France Then & Now but was unable to find corroboration for these details in surviving records.

The Squadron ORB is singularly unhelpful but according to Halley’s RAF serials L2141 was never allocated to No. 85 Squadron and was finally ‘struck off charge’ by No. 601 Squadron on July 3, 1940. While P2427 was a Miles Magister that served in a variety of EFTS until its eventual sale in May 1949 though I note that Norman Franks has this listed in his FC Losses as P2437 - another Miles Magister lost by 16 EFTS on March 25, 1942.

P3426 was, at least, a Tangmere Station Flight Hurricane ‘presumed lost in France in May 1940’ so could well be correct but I have no hard evidence of the fact. The only one of the four actually known to have been allocated to No. 85 Squadron was P2555 the records for which merely state ‘Lost in France May 1940’.

As always, the danger in simply duplicating such doubtful information is that it may eventually become enshrined as fact. So I would be most grateful to hear from anyone who can provide confirmation of these serials.