Raid on St Eval 14 March 1941

[alex crawford]

Hi,

Anyone know the identity of the 6 Whirlwinds from 263 Squadron that were damaged during a raid on St Eval on 14th March 1941?

Regards,

Alex

[brewerjerry]

Hi Alex,
My main notes are still packed, the orb mentions a raid on the 12 & 14th and that nine whirlwinds were damaged, later it mentions the airfield was bombed on the 14th and four whirlwinds were damaged. I remember finding serials for hurricanes/blenheims
However I remember I have found nothing on either dates, so can only assume the damage on the whirlwinds was very minor.
Only thing on the 14th mar is thornton brown's crash.
The PRO/NA file I found in the 70's ( never found it again on subsequent visits) showed nothing for these dates either but had many 'casualties'
There are many I could not trace so far

the first two Cat 1 on the 5th december 1940, (maybe the ones shot at by the navy A/A ? ).

The only returns for mar 41 were
01 mar 41 Cat 1,
14 mar 41 Cat 3,
23 mar 41 Cat Ac,
31 mar 41 Cat Ac.

One other interesting entry is the 8th feb 41 ,
One a/c Cat 3 (P6969) and one a/c Cat Ac

Sorry If I have strayed O/T,

Cheers
Jerry

[Brian]

Hi Alex/Jerry

Hope you don't mind me intruding, but what was the incident you describe that occurred on 5/12/40 - were Whirlwinds fired on and damaged by RN AA fire? Or was this German AA? I would appreciate further details.

Cheers
Brian

[alex crawford]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the info. I don't have the full ORB just bits and pieces. I have from April-Dec '40 and odd months from '41-'43.

Brian,

The ORB for Dec '40 states that a number of recce flights were carried out, which resulted in a number of Air Raid warnings being sounded, as the Observer Corps where not familiar with the aircraft. On more than one occassion the aircraft were shot at, notably over Dartmouth.

The Squadron had recently moved down from Scotland to Exeter.

One example being 8th Dec when Yellow section (Sqn Ldr Munro and Plt Off Crooks) patrolled base at 15,000ft. Plotted as hostile and air raid sirens sounded in Exeter.


Alex

[niallc]

Alex
The attack took place at 20.55 on the evening of the 12th and damaged 7 Whirlwinds and 7 of 247's Hurricanes. Damage to the Whirlwinds appears to have limited to minor dings and dents from bomb splinters and debris. The ORB states that a further 4 Whirlwinds were damaged in a second attack on the 14th, but other sources suggest just two. Still further sources suggest a total of 9 a/c damaged during the two attacks which would also support the idea that just two were damaged on the 14th. As usual the St Eval ORB is unhelpfully vague. From the Form 78s candidates for aircraft damaged in the first raid are P6983, P6993, P6996 all reported Cat AC on the 13th (the books would have been "closed" by that time of the evening on the 12th, so these would have been reported into the State Room the following morning) and possibly P7000. As Jerry suggests the damage to the others may have been so trivial that it was not even reported. Other possibilities lie with the aircraft already under repair or undergoing modification work by the Westland party attached to the squadron. If any of these were further damaged while they had already been transferred to 43 Group account or Westland SAS I’m not sure how, or even if, this damage would be recorded.

Hope this helps

Niall

[alex crawford]

Hi Niall,

Thanks for the info. Are the Form 78s the aircraft movement cards?

Alex

[niallc]

Alex

Correct - originals with AHB, microfilm copies at Hendon.

Niall