[Peter Cornwell]

Alex,

Well you certainly seem to be destroying the information that is given in "Twelve Days in May" by Brian Cull and Bruce Lander with Heinrich Weiss, as well as that given also in Fighter Command Losses volume 1 by Norman R. Franks which is also in the Revised and updated volume recently published. They have P2537 as the a/c that P/O. L.L. Appleton was killed in and also that it crashed on the 14th May 1940 Shot down in combat by return fire from a Ju88 near Renaix( FCL vol 1 and revised version) while "12 Days in May" has P2537 as the a/c that P/O.L.L.Appleton was killed in Shot down (beleived by return fire from an He111 of II/LG1 or by Bf110 of ZG1 and that it crashed East of Renaix.

That was not my intention. However, I am well aware that (not for the first time) my research has led me to reach different conclusions to previously published accounts.

You say that they are wrong and that there is photographic proof of the a/c being elsewhere ?

No, I simply document what I believe to be the facts of the matter & trust readers to form their own conclusions. The photograph is attached.

As I personally do not know how far Renaix is from Merville is it not possible that between the 14th and 20th the a/c could have been removed to Merville ?

Hardly. The aircraft flown by APPLETON was clearly subject of a terminal velocity crash and, as I said, P2537 was photographed fairly intact.

Please if possible could you put the photo up on this forum for us to see, thank you.

It is not mine to share. However, purely in the interests of trying to accommodate you & close this debate, I am posting the image as it appeared when the photo was offered for auction on eBay & thus came into the public domain.

This all leaves us with yet more Question's now as we have now to assertain which aircraft P/O.Appleton was flying when he met his death, besides those mentioned in earlier replies here. So to start with may I ask you what your information is based on and where is it from ?

As I have published in The Battle of France Then & Now (p268) I believe that P2635 was the aircraft flown by APPLETON when lost on May 14, 1940. There is no Holy Grail - my information is based upon years of personal research of surviving contemporary documentation & subjective analysis of RAF serials. But as P2537 is evidently incorrect perhaps it is fitting that your question is equally directed to those who suggest it was so ?