Quote:
Originally Posted by twocee
This is from the Admiralty wartime publication "Fleet Air Arm":
"On the morning of the 7th May the Martlet patrol saw two Morane fighters approaching from the southwest. The leader of the section attacked the first Morane head on. His aircraft was hit in the wings and engine , and he forced-landed in the water off one of the beaches......Meanwhile the second Martlet had followed his leader into the attack, but seeing two more Moranes following him he turned and shot down one of them. The pilots of the Martlet section which was flying above as top cover ,seeing the dogfight below them, dived and shot down the three remaining Moranes."
Strangely, it does not name the pilots of the first section but lists the claims of the second: Lt. C.C. Tomkinson (1) and Lt. J. Waller (2), and also mentions that Tomkinson claimed a Potez 63 the previous day.
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Hello
According to the French unit's ORB, only three Morane were airborn at that time: n°995 flown by Captain Jean Assollant, n°993 by Commandant François Leonetti and n°842 by Lieutenant Michel Laurant.
Leonetti and Laurant survived but Jean Assollant did not. He was reported as "MIA". His body was found several month later. And according to the testimony done by the person who found the wreckage, it seems that Assollant was probably killed shot down after a "face to face", the engine of his Morane showing some front hits..
Best regards
Franck