23rd May 1940

[B.F.M. Droog]

On 29/05/1940 Linney baled out his 229 Squadron Hurricane N2521 'off Dunkirk' at 17.30 hrs, according to Peter Cornwell.

Merville, however, is about 60 km SSW of Dunkirk.

Regards,

Bart

[Alex Smart]

Hello yes that is the Linney, baled out on the 29th from N2521.

But he must have baled before on the 23rd May as well if Strange gave him a repaired aircraft to fly out to Blighty.
So which a/c was P/O. Linney in when he was shot out of the sky on the 23rd May ?

Anyone know ?
Alex

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello Alex,

In the beginning of this thread all possible Hurricanes for 23 May came along. None of them was flown by P/O Linney.

Regards,

Bart

[Alex Smart]

Hello Bart,

That is correct as far as it goes, but 229 sqdn had a flight of a/c sent over to france and what of these ?

Hurricanes of 32,56,145,229,242,253 and 605 were in action on the 23rd as well as Spitfires from 54 and 92 Sqdns.
So to add to the seven Hurricane serial numbers I gave in an earlier post three more were lost (total ten) so it is very possible that Linney was in one of 229 Sqdn a/c that was lost.
Anyone have access to 229's ORB for the period ?

Alex

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello Alex,

My humble opinion is that 229 Squadron suffered no losses on 23/05/1940. Neither Franks nor Cornwell nor the CWGC lists any losses for this unit on that day.

You're right with '229 sqdn had a flight of a/c sent over to France' - it could be that the records of this flight were lost, and that could be the reason why these losses are not known. But it seems highly unlikely to me.

Cheers,

Bart

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

So you expect that he just fell out of the sky on the 23rd ?

Alex

[paulmcmillan]

12 Days in May has the following
Pages 302,303 and 304
23rd May
Tne first Hurricane was the one fixed in fine pitch (pilot unknown who had
earlier bee shot down east of Merville, and made his way back on foot to Merville
Note: Could have been days earlier.
It says P/O Linney shot down and landed within boundary of Merville. He flew the
second one home. Strange flew 3rd one and landed at RAf Manston

Linney shot down again on 29th !

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Bruce, Alex and everyone,

As the thread has moved on since my failed attempt to post last night I will just add the following to the mix.

Peter Hearn had the article on Louis Strange published in AIR ENTHUSIAST during 1991. He later (1994) wrote a full autobiography about him; FLYING REBEL. Hearn had access to Strange's documents, etc. courtesy of his family. These included his flying logbooks which Hearn described as 'not well kept'. These logbooks are now held in the RAF Museum. Perhaps they, and FLYING REBEL, might provide us with more clues ? Does anyone have a copy of the latter handy ?

I have much difficulty with the date of this incident. I am not certain but it seems likely the German Army did not overrun Merville until May 27th. This date might be a better starting point, or one between the 23rd and the 27th. The famous 'Panzer Halt !' order was in effect May 24th - 26th. See the map on page 377 of Peter Cornwell's book and note the location of Merville. Also if possible TO LOSE A BATTLE by Alistair Horne.

I will post Part 2 separately in case I lose this too.

Martin.

[Martin Gleeson]

Part 2 just vanished ! This is getting to be tiresome. Is there a cap on the time one can spend writing a reply ? If so can it PLEASE be increased ? Other contributors produce much longer queries or replies.

Martin Gleeson.

[Andy Saunders]

Martin

Why not produce any lengthy post as a document off-line and then copy and paste?