P/O Eric Marrs (Old Faithful Spitfire)

[RAF Pilot]

Hello Chaps,
On September 30th, 1940 Pilot Officer Marrs from No 152 Squadron was hit during a fight against He111 and Bf110, his windscreen and petrol tap was damage during the battle, the spitfire was his "Old Faithful", do you know the serial number and code letter?

[Larry]

On a personal note I would love to find out for certain the serial for Old Faithful as it was almost certainly the same aircraft that Boy Marrs was flying when my father saw him shoot down a Ju88 of LG1 on 17th September 1940 that crashed near Warminster!

Here are a few serials of Spitfires with 152 Sqn that fit the time frame for being on charge on 30th Sept:

K9840

L1059

N3039

P9382
P9391
P9442
P9509
P9543

R6607
R6763
R6889
R6964
R6968

X4025
X4171
X4247
X4258
X4381
X4550

If 'Old Faithful' had been his aircraft for more than a few days prior to 30th Sept (and had actually been used by him on 17th Sept, when it also received damage from return fire) then this narrows the list to:

P9442
R6763
R6907
X4025
X4171
X4247
X4258
X4381

I hope this helps.

NB - there was a book by Air Britain giving the details of named aircraft and their serials, but I cannot remember if this was only for presentation aircraft

[udf_00]

According to :

http://www.152hyderabad.co.uk/html/f...rs__d_f_c.html

September 22 letter ( relevant to September 17 )

"The unfortunate part about that engagement was that I lost ‘Old faithful’. It will go to a maintenance unit to be repaired and then because of its age will probably go to a training unit. Poor ‘Old Faithful’. I had become very attached to it."

Seems he last flew it on September 17.

[Andy Saunders]

Larry

Have Danny Burt with me at moment and we were interested to read that your father saw the 17 September episode involving "Boy" Marrs.

Danny would be keen to know if you have any details of your father's account of what he saw that day?

[Larry]

Dear Andy,

I don't have very much but here goes:

My Dad was 14 at the time and lived in Trowbridge, Wilts and was a keen aircraft spotter, who had visited RAF Stations as far as Hullavington to watch aircraft and with his friends had visited at least one crash site in the early was years; that of a Battle that had belly landed around the time of the phoney war.

Presumably Tuesday 17th Sept would have been a school day unless summer holidays were longer to get the harvest in! However for some reason my Dad was outside at the time when he was alerted to the sound of aircraft and looking up saw a Spitfire chasing a lone Ju88.

He remembers that the Spitfire was firing at the Ju88 as he said that when the Spitfires fired its guns, the noise it made surprised him in the sense that it was a single 'burrrr' noise and not a 'rata tat tat' that he had expected (being an avid reader of WW1 books about the Western Front).

Luckily he is still with us, so I will ask him tomorrow what else he can add.

[Larry]

A quick update:

I spoke to my Dad this evening and he said that he was in his garden in Holbrook Lane, Trowbridge at the time as he used to cycle home from school for lunch and was just about to return.

He said it was only one Spitfire that was attacking the Ju 88 and that after the Spitfire fired on the Ju88 a few times, the Spitfire suddenly broke off the attack, much to my Dad's annoyance as he was shouting at the Spitfire "shoot it down. shoot it down."

The attack took place at approximately 5,000 ft

He remembers the Ju 88 was heading in a south east direction towards Westbury White Horse trailing smoke and was getting lower and lower.

[Danny152]

Larry,
Just looking at a few old threads. Is it okay if I use your Dads account for my book on the Squadron. did you know Cramer was on board the aircraft he was the Staffelkapitain for LG1.

Thanks

Danny

[Larry]

Happy to agree

Send me a PM with your email and I can speak with my Dad once again as he has a habit of remembering extra details the second or third time around!