Hurricane V7617

[alcluith]

P/O Charlie R Young of 46 Sqn was flying Hurricane V7617 when he was shot down and killed on the 5 Dec 1940. He was taken to RAF Marston. I am assuming the Hurricane was also taken to that base, if so what would have happened to it and is there any where I might be able to get it's history, markings etc I do have "PO" for 46 Sqn but would like to find what the third letter would have been?

Any guidance would be helpful


Drew Davidson

[Chris Goss]

Drew: I am not sure by what you mean that the Hurricane was "taken to that base" for Marston I presume you mean Manston? His Hurricane is reputued to have come down at Boughton House, Faversham and the Hurricane destroyed. Unless the aircraft was intact, all that they would have done is recover the body (presuming he was still in the aircaft when it crashed) and clear away surface wreckage. V7617 was on the strength of 46 Sqn from 20 Oct 40-further details of its history can be obtained from the Aircraft Movement Cards held at the AHB and RAF Museum. It would appear that 46 Sqn was one of the sqns that rarely recorded individual codes so the only way of finding out is by comparing the F540 entries to any surviving logbooks

[alcluith]

Chris,

Thanks for that.
I was assuming that the hurricane was in tact but unrepairablee therefore lost but I have no evidence of that.
The family were told that Charlie was shot in the head and would have died instantly so I am assuming that he was still in the hurricane when they recovered his body and was in reasonable condition to have established that he was shot in the head.
His death certificate issued on the 9th Dec states the cause of death "Due to War operations" no details of wounds etc.
As a novice at this type of investigation I would appreciate some guidance to AHB and F540.

Drew

[Larry]

Interesting - this loss is not included in the book

RAF Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War Vol 1 1939-41

by Norman Franks

[alcluith]

Larry

With all "definitive" guides there are some ommisions and that one caused me a lot of extra research.
It is well documented that P/O Charlie Young was shot down and killed whilst patrolling on 5 Dec 1940. What is not clear is exactly where he crashed but we are sure we have pinpointed the site.

From his old School report, dated 1941, of his death it states that he was with his squadron chasing enemy out to sea and he was shot in the head killing him instantly. This would concur with his families knowledge of his death. We have assumed that it was Ob Karl Ebersberger of 4/JG26 who shot Charlie down. He claims a hurricane at 12.20 near Rochester and the official record shows Charlie being shot down at 11.20.

This would also confirm that it was the 46 Sqn that engaged JG26, at that time, with some success although no claims were made.

rgds

Drew Davidson