23rd May 1940

[paulmcmillan]

I forgot to add that Linney made a combat claim on that day - Says he shot down a Bf 109 before he was shot down - This story in in 12 Days in May - The Combat Claim is listed for 23rd May 1940 in RAF Fighter Command Victory Claims of WW2 by John Foreman ONLY under 253 Sqn not 229! It is also listed on the National Archives as 253 Sqn - If anyone has £3.50 and wants to read it you can order it here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...&resultcount=1


I wonder if it mentions HIM being shot down and I wonder why it is listed under 253 Sqn - Could 'Kenley' be the common thread?

[Peter Cornwell]

'A' Flight of No.253 Squadron & 'A' Flight of No.229 Squadron operated as a composite unit in France between May 20 - 24, 1940.

[Martin Gleeson]

Part 2a,

To recap some salient points in the AE article.

Peter Hearn the author states that Strange was sent to Merville with a party of airmen. They found, as Alex has mentioned already, 15 unserviceable Hurricanes and proceeded to make flyable at least two. The German Army was quite near the airfield.

That day - whatever day it was - P/O Linney was shot down by Bf 109s 'immediately over their heads'. He baled out and landed safely on the airfield, was given one of the now-flyable Hurricanes and departed quickly.

That afternoon with the German Army only 500 yards from the airfield Strange sent his party off with a retreating British army unit. He then took off in another flyable Hurricane. It is clear from the article that only TWO Hurricanes were flown out of Merville. The first by Linney and the second by Strange. If this is correct it probably explains why the name of the third pilot cannot be found.

Martin.

[Martin Gleeson]

Part 2b,

A verbatim account by Strange of his very eventful flight to England (Manston) is included in the article. The obituary referred to earlier is incorrect in stating that Strange sparred with the German fighters in order to shake them off. By his own account he was merely - and very wisely - trying to flee from them.

The date of these events is not recorded in the article. However a letter from Lord Balfour to Strange congratulating the latter on his achievement is reproduced in full. It too does not identify the date of the incident but the letter is dated May 29th. This means there can be no confusion with Linneys bale-out over Dunkirk on the 29th.

I presume the Manston, Hawkinge and 229 Sqn. ORBs have been well checked for any information on this incident. A possible scenario exists for Linney in that he took off in one Hurricane and came back in a different one. This may not have been noticed as he apparently was not overdue because of the quick turnaround at Merville. Almost certainly the Hurricane he came back in would need to have been sent elsewhere for full repair. Does anyone have a list of all the sorties flown by Linney in the period May 20th - 29th ? That is assuming the 229 Sqn. ORB was well maintained.

The end. Regards for now,

Martin.

[Alex Smart]

Hello to you all especialy Bart,

I had a very bad day on Friday last, so apologise for being impolite to Bart in my responce to him.

Hello to Martin, I too have also had many posts disapear into the ether and had to start again, the same suggestion about writing and pasting was made to me.

I looked up Aviation News vol 19 No 3 (22 June-5 July 90) as well as AE 43/44 and it too is of no further use as far as Linney is concerned but does note that there are/(were then) at least 10 Books on the 23rd may actions mostle because there were SO MANY notable pilots involved that day including Tuck(1st Victory) Bader, Bartlet(Big X), just to name three on the RAF side. So it may yet be in one of those that there is further info.
I found too a good thread in the posts about the 92 Sqdn codes date of change from GR to QJ being after May/June 40.

Alex

[Alex Smart]

Additional note re 23rd may losses.

242 Sqdn Hurricane P2730

CWGC site has 242 Sqdn loss as P/O. G.A.MADORE
While FCL vol 1 revised has P/O.Malone.

Can Anyone confirm correct name for this RNZAF loss ?

Alex

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello Alex,

No need to apologize - I could laugh at your furious reaction (and you were rightly annoyed at my ignorance) and was thinking about posting something like: 'maybe the pilot was a very tiny man that had to jump out of his plane after landing and had to use his parachute, which would explain why his a/c was not registered as a loss, as it had safely landed', but decided not to do so. Anyhow:

CWGC: Pilot Officer (Pilot) Garfield A. Madore, RAF 42143, 242 Sqdn., age unknown, 23/05/1940, Anzac Cemetery, Sailly-sur-la-Lys, F

'While FCL vol 1 revised has P/O [G.A.] Malone'

Peter Cornwell has 'P/O G.A. Madore'

What makes you think he's RNZAF - the cemetery? Two months ago I was at Holten Canadian War Cemetery. The majority of the men buried there were Canadians, but I saw also Englishmen and a Belgian.

The Cenotaph Database doesn't list G.A. Madore or G.A. Malone, so whatever his true name, I guess he was not a New Zealander - but Errol Martyn is the man who can give a final answer to this aspect .

My gut feeling is that the CWGC version is the correct one.

Cheers,

Bart

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all,

Thanks to Peter for supplying the link to the Combat Report by Linney for 23 May 1940. It is a very interesting document and I will try to post the most relevant points from it.

For the Squadron Linney records '253' but at the bottom of the page writes 'Green Section', '253 & 229'. The action took place 'above Merville' at 10.10 hours, 23 May 1940. Own losses were noted as '1 or 2 aircraft' and '1 pilot missing'. Linney claimed a 'Me 109', but his report states he left it in 'an almost vertical dive'. Later he notes that 3 personnel on Merville airfield told him they believed it could not possibly pull out of its dive. Nowhere is it stated that anyone saw it crash.

[Martin Gleeson]

Part 2.

His Hurricane was hit by cannon fire shortly after this and he had to bale out. No aircraft serials or codes were recorded. Linney states he landed 'about 250 yards from Merville aerodrome'. Page 2 of the report is called by Linney a 'Subsidiary Report' and deals with events after his parachute jump.

He says on reaching the airfield he 'found an Ensign on fire' and a damaged Savoia, plus 'about 15 Hurricanes', most unserviceable. He then records 'I eventually put a machine running and landed at Hawkinge at about 18.00'.

His statements, if correct, seem to suggest that;
1/ It was not the quick turnaround that we all were led to believe,
2/ It was 23 May 1940,
3/ it matches exactly the times of the 253 Sqn. losses as outlined on page 351 of Peter Cornwell's excellent book.

Regards,

Martin.

[paulmcmillan]

Martin

Thanks for posting this info on Linney I will give you my thoughts on it - But think there were only 2 Hurricanes recovered... The times in Linney's report are crutial and also it could explain why the earlier pilot has never been identified - he never existed!


BTW P/O [G.A.] Malone' or 'P/O G.A. Madore' - No such names exist on the dates in question in Errol Martyns books on New Zealanders lost in the air services during WW1 and WW2


His full name according to the London Gazette is Garfield Alexandra MADORE