[niallc]

Alex

I quite agree with you re Cornelius Gordon Wilson (In fact I think it might have been I who pointed this out to you on RAF Commands:-))
I also have not yet managed to find the identity of the FAA pilot involved, but I think 802 Sqn is far more likely than 804. There are two other issues with the account given in Fledgling Eagles (and repeated elsewhere). The lost Gladiator is given as N5624, but the F1180 for the incident gives the serial as N5695 and Peter Wyatt-Smith's logbook also indicates N5695 (it was 'his' aircraft). Additionally N5624 is cited as being involved in a combat some days later. Infuriatingly the F1180 gives neither the pilot's name nor the cause of the ditching.

Secondly in Fledgling Eagles - and many other accounts - the location of this incident is incorrectly given as Scapa Flow. Glorious was in the Clyde, not at Scapa, on the 21st and didn't sail for Scapa to join Ark and her escorts until that night. This is why 263s Gladiators were ferried on the 20th to Prestwick rather than, say, Hatston.

HTH
Niall