Seeking ID of crashed Spitfire "Y" near Calais, France, probably summer, 1940

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I've got three photos of this badly crashed Spitfire with the letter "Y" that the source captions say were taken in the area of Calais, France, probably in the late spring or summer of 1940 up to the Oct-Nov 1940 time frame when white fuselage bands were introduced.

Initially I thought that it might be the Klipsch 92 SQ crash site from 23.05.40 (P9373), but two people who were present when that crash site was dug are certain that this isn't that one.

So, can anyone help ID this one? One of the photos may show that this overlooks a harbor area, although I'm not sure what the background is.

https://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-9B...-9BXD4PK-S.jpg

https://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-2g...-2gSCWjj-S.jpg

https://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-mh...-mh8BDk6-S.jpg

[Chris Goss]

Having just written about those RAF pilots captured over France during the Battle of Britain, I cannot link any with this which might indicate it is earlier than Summer?

[Larry Hickey]

Chris,

Thanx Chris, nice to be able to eliminate a BoB-period Spitfire from consideration. This almost surely makes it a crash during the Western Campaign of May-June, 1940. I think most of those have been accounted for, but since this has no November, 1940, and later white rear fuselage band this must be from the earlier WC. Either the pilot rode this one down and was killed or he bailed out.

Who can figure this out? This should be obvious to a Spitfire expert from that period just by a precess of elimination.

[kaki3152]

Just my $0.02.
It's not that easy without a serial number or Squadron ID code. There were a quite a few Spitfire casualties from May 23,1940 through June 2,1940 over France, which is probably when this particular Spitfire was shot down.
The code letter "Y" helps somewhat but most of the Spitfire casualties do not have a record of the individual A/C letter.