[Icare9]

Brian C: Appreciate the clarification, but if you were his primary source, from what did the phrase " Flight Sergeant Don MacKerras RAAF was killed when his Tempest V fighter spun into the ground whilst he was on patrol; he had attempted to tip a flying bomb over with his wing tip but collided with the missile, losing his wing. ..." originate?

I can't find anything that actually states he was seen to tip and the two craft collided, nor the date.

Sorry if I'm labouring the point, but this incident seems to have gone unnoticed in the village. I know of only 2 V1 incidents near the village.
One was a mid air burst on 1st August which left several impact craters, not one, corroborated by eyewitnesses attending a funeral at the adjacent Church, and another slightly to the north east which did explode on the ground and from the Memorial Hall Committee records it took until the mid fifties for reparation to pay for repairs.

Shooting at a V1 would probably result in an air burst, which a fighter might sustain damage flying through the debris, but a "tip" would usually send it to the ground to explode.

Don didn't use his ammunition, as that was seen to explode from his burning aircraft, and the other V1 is dated to 1st August, therefore I have to conclude that Don deliberately refrained from firing for fear of hitting people and property in the village, but by tipping the V1 he lost control too low to do more than perhaps choose a field.

If I can obtain "proof" of him tipping the V1 that would help convince our Parish Council that the event should be more formally commemorated this coming 6th August, 75 years on.