Typhoon 438 Sqdn crashlanding in Belgium

[Alain57]

Hello ,

On october 7th 1944 a Typhoon from N° 438 Sqdn made a wheels up landing in a field near the village off Lantremange ( east of the town of Waremme ) in Belgium.Can someone identify this machine and the fate of his pilot.

Alain

[Steve49]

According to Franks losses and 2nd TAF Vol 2 the only 438 Sqn loss on the 7th was MP135/G shotdown by flak at 12.00. Location given as South of Coesfeld, pilot F/Lt A.B. Newsome was killed. Not sure if this is the one you're interested in.

Regards

Steve

[Chris Thomas]

This occurence would not appear in loss lists as I believe it is the forced landing made by Flg Off F.R.F.Skelly (OK) who put down in a field "near Trun, east of Brussels" - he was lost and presumably running out of fuel.

This info comes from the 'Accident card' which is hand written and difficult to decipher. The serial is quoted as PD497 and the damage category 'Ac', ie. repairable locally. This may well be correct as the Form 78 for PD497, although it has no mention of 438 sqn, has it missing on an undecipherable date in 1944; then it appears with 440 Sqn by 4 Jan 45. This is consistent with it having been recovered and repaired by a local R&SU. It appears in 440's ORB in December 44 and was lost in action on 3 Feb 45 as I8-K.
CT

[Alain57]

Thanks gentlemen for the info