Flt Sgt Jammy Payne 501 Squadron 1940

[paulmcmillan]

Payne was not on 501 Sqn (as far as I can see) prior to them arriving in France, I can see him being asked to ferry a replacement Hurricane to France (in May 1940 - I believe he could have been on 92 Sqn) and he just hung around and ended up on Ops - I could see why he was called 'Jammy' by his fellow pilots and maybe this it why it has been so hard to identify him. Chris Shore in Aces High Vol 1 and 2 could not positively ID him. Probably the most noticeable 'Unknown Ace' left of 1940

[Tom Semenza]

According to the Free BDM website he was born in 1900 in Medway, Kent.

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Tom

[Bruce Lander]

"Jammy" Payne was certainly on 501 Sq on the day it arrived in France. According to "Kenneth Hawkeye Lee" by Nick Thomas and also "No 501 Squadron" by Phil Listemann on May 10th a section comprising F/O A.D.Pickup (L.2037 SD-L); F/O M.F.C.Smith (L.1949 SD-O) and F/Sgt.Payne (L.1866 SD-P) on sector patrol became separated and Pickup engaged a Do.17 shooting it down.

Bruce Lander

[paulmcmillan]

Bruce

You are right, he must have been one of the 16th Pilots who flew out of Tangmere to Betheniville on May 10th 1940

I have a list of the following NCO pilots who were in the Sqn from Jan to June 1940. This may not be 100% complete



Jan 1940
Sgt Douglas Barker Crabtree #740434 Injured 11th May 1940 later #125730 Bombay L5813
Sgt Hugh Charles Adams #741254 Injured 11th May 1940 --> Hugh Charles Adams #85645 6th Sept. 1940.
Sgt James Harry Lacey #740042 DFM & Bar 'Ginger' -> later #60321
Sgt Donald Alistair Stewart McKay #740115 Service Number later 113322
Sgt William Harry Whitfield #740692 <-- Killed 11th May 1940 landing France "271 Sqn" -> 501 Sqn
Sgt Robert Chippindall Dafforn #740804 -> Later Commissioned #81674
Sgt Paul Casewell Powe Farnes #741447 Wing Commander (SGT) P C Farnes 501 DFM later 88437

Apr 1940
Sgt David Ian Kirton #550500 His first squadron posting was to 501 at Tangmere on 27th April but this proved a short stay as he went to 65 Squadron, equipped with Spitfires, at Hornchurch on 5th May KIA Aug. 8, 1940

May 1940 "11 Airmen Pilots at 31 May"
Sgt Percy Frederick Morfill #564749 DFM later #47655
F/Sgt Alfred Alexander Payne #90601 MiD
Sgt John Ernest Proctor #563641 Service Number : 44131 --> later DFC
Sgt John Eric Loverseed #907964 AFC
Sgt Arthur Owen Lewis #566649 Claim 27th May 1940 "Killed June 8th 1940" Hurricane P3347 SD-N Sgt Lewis

July 1940
Sgt Frederick John Powell Dixon #742124 Killed 11th July 1940

[Brian]

Hi guys

Possibly Jammy took the place of a junior and inexperienced 501 Squadron NCO (hence the reason that some were aboard the ill-fated Bombay) for the flight to France?

Just a thought

Cheers
Brian

[Tom Semenza]

As an aside, Paul's listing of NCO pilots appears to solve another 501 mystery man. Namely Arthur Owen Lewis. In the past he has been listed as "A. A. Lewis." The Watkins/Listemann book has him so listed without further detail. Further both Brian Cull in First of the Few and Norman Franks in RAF Fighter Command Losses, Vol. 1 show "Sgt. A. A. Lewis" as MiA on 08 June 40 in Hurricane I P3347 (SD-N). However as both point out he is not listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commision, nor is Arthur Owen Lewis. Interestingly, his loss in not noted by Watkins & Listemann, nor is it found in Peter Cornwell's The Battle of France Then and Now.

I have found him listed as a PoW on the RAF Commands website listing:

357 47913 Lewis A O 566649 RAF

Tom

[Chris Goss]

I know we are going off piste but can confirm that Sgt A O Lewis was lost with 501 Sqn on 8 Jun 40 near Decima (?). However, first note of being POW did not come until 6 Feb 41 when he wrote to his father saying he was at Eughien (?) in Belgium. Official confirmation came 25 Mar 41 when he was in Stalag Luft 2

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo,

Not sure if this has been posted already but the AIR 81 file for Sgt. A.O. Lewis is number 829. The Hurricane serial is not listed on the index and unfortunately, in my limited experience of AIR 81 files, if a serial is not shown on the index it usually is not contained in the body of the file.

'Decima' was the RAF codename for Echemines airfield in the 'South Champagne area' of France. (From the AIR 35/63 file at Kew).

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.