Hurricane P3533

[Andy Saunders]

Hurricane P3533 had been alocated to 46 Squadron during 1940, but evidently did not reach that squadron before they withdrew from Norway. Instead, it seems to have been "diverted" to another squadron operating in France where it was evidently lost during May 1940.

I have attached a photograph of one of the ejector chutes recovered from a crash site in France which would seem to indicate the crash location of P3533. The pilot was evidently killed in the crash.

I am not currently at liberty to identify the crash location, but I am hopeful that someone might be able to attribute P3533 to a specific squadron. Obviously, it is not 46 Squadron and the AM Form 78 failed to specify the alternative squadron to which it was obviously issued.

Can anyone help?

[paulmcmillan]

Originally Posted by Andy Saunders

Hurricane P3533 had been alocated to 46 Squadron during 1940, but evidently did not reach that squadron before they withdrew from Norway. Instead, it seems to have been "diverted" to another squadron operating in France where it was evidently lost during May 1940.

I have attached a photograph of one of the ejector chutes recovered from a crash site in France which would seem to indicate the crash location of P3533. The pilot was evidently killed in the crash.

I am not currently at liberty to identify the crash location, but I am hopeful that someone might be able to attribute P3533 to a specific squadron. Obviously, it is not 46 Squadron and the AM Form 78 failed to specify the alternative squadron to which it was obviously issued.

Can anyone help?

According to Franks... Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War: it was with 145 Sqn...

[Andy Saunders]

Paul

Many thanks, but......

A scan of Norman's list has not thrown anything up. A second closer look threw up nothing, either. Am I missing something?

[paulmcmillan]

Andy

My books are in storage but if you put "Hurricane P3533" in google books you get a hit on


Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War: Operational ...‎ - Page 28
Norman L. R. Franks - History - 1997 - 167 pages

Then using a 'tickling technique' on google books you can get reveal the rest of the line which is

"145 Sqn N2601, N2605 P3279, P3300, P3418, P3455, P3532, P3533"

Which I assume is a list of 'other losses'..

Of course it could be a scanning error (you can't see the original)

[Andy Saunders]

Paul

Thanks!

Norman's revised edition has P3535 on page 28. This was 607 Squadron, so unless a transcription error somedwhere along the line then I think we can probably rule that out. An interesting possibility might be a clerical error with 607 Sqn, and this was in fact P3533 and not P3535? If P3535 was incorrectly recorded and should have been P3533 then it might make some sense. That aircraft was evidently shot down over Cambrai (certainly the right area) but apparently crashed at Bachy, some long way from this particular crash site. Unless, of course, it was this crash and the pilot was buried at Bachy? However, that might all be a far too simplistic and convenient "explanation" for the P3533 mystery.

Peter Cornwell might like to comment?

PS - Having now looked at Norman Franks' first edition as an afterthought, page 28 does list P3533 but simply as unallocated and lost in France. He does not attribute it to 145 Squadron.

The mystery endures....

[paulmcmillan]

"The pilot was evidently killed in the crash."

May this give a clue.. Any idea who he was?? He may have been buried locally or still listed as missing? There can't be that many pilots mysteries left after 70 years.. So by the process of elimination....

[Peter Cornwell]

Paul,

Regretably, there are more unresolved mysteries of this kind than you would imagine - such is the nature of wartime casualties I guess. And if this pilot/aircraft could have been identified by simple PoE then it would certainly have been resolved by the MREU immediately postwar or by some duffer like myself latterly. However, I am minded that the responsible authorities are not overkeen on accepting just PoE - hence Andy's question.

Andy,

For reasons that you will appreciate all too well, I will resist adding any further speculation. But it is really frustrating that the only tangible piece of 'evidence' from the dig itself has thus far proved of limited value due, largely, to the absence of reliable records. Pity that crater was clinically sterile of further clues.

[northeagle]

An interesting possibility might be a clerical error with 607 Sqn, and this was in fact P3533 and not P3535? If P3535 was incorrectly recorded and should have been P3533 then it might make some sense.
There was no clerical error on 607 Squadron regarding P3535 AF-C. It is recorded by no less than five 607 Squadron pilots as flown by them during this period. Will Gore, Francis Blackadder, Peter Parrott, Bobby Pumphrey and the unfortunate George Fidler who was shot down in it.

[Andy Saunders]

Paul & Peter

Thank you both for your input.

We cannot be certain, but there is a high probability that this aircraft was P3533 in view of the discovered evidence - despite several red-herrings along the way over the past three years! The problem is, as Peter is aware, we cannot (yet) link P3533 to a squadron. Neither can we link it to a pilot whom we know to have died in the crash. We strongly suspect the crash to have been May or June 1940. That is about the extent of our knowledge on this case!

[paulmcmillan]

Could not have P3533 and P3535 been on same Sqn???

I suppose a burial at Cambrai can't be discounted?