Hurricane P2701

[Geoff Rayner]

Mark,
I take your point about the effects of blast. Still a possibility but in this case I would favour a wheels up landing probably with dead engine, as in your original post.

Pieter,
Squadron? If you follow my reasoning from this photo (and enlargement) then definitely 85Sqdn for P2701. I suggest it is P2701 from the other side:
1. What appears as an 'I' on the port side of the photo in post #1 is just the start of the letter R ... then the unfortunate painter was probably told to stop as the aircraft was required immediately. It would have to be finished later. It wouldn't be the only case of missing lettering - hectic times, rushed replacement aircraft and limited resources.
2. A close inspection of the serial number on the stbd side of the photo below shows P2. Unfortunately the V masks the rest, but the top of a squared 'O' can just be seen within the letter V. Whoever now has a good copy of this photo would be able to confirm this and add more.
3. Same style of fence, and damage to fence, in both photos.
4. Same types of vegetation divided by the fence.
5. Attitude of the aircraft is the same in both and I can detect no differences (except the lettering) between the two aircraft images. The break and bend of the vertical prop blade is particularly noticeable.
6. If Peter C is correct that P2701 went to 85 Sqdn on 13 May, then being marked 'R' would fit well with the previous 'R' being lost on 11 May (N2388 according to BofFT&N, and this picture is not of N2388)
Location?
1. I find it hard to see an airfield. The location of Choisy-en-Brie given by the seller of the P2701 photo could so easily be a 'red herring' (but not to be dismissed entirely). Although some other photos of French aircraft by the same seller were marked with that location and appeared to come from the same photo printing, it doesn't mean they were taken at the same location. In the days of reel film, with only a limited number of shots on the reel, adjacent photos on the reel could be days or kilometres apart. Adding to an album could be weeks, months or even years afterwards. How good would the memory be for correct annotation? They might even have been copy prints taken by someone else. Many such photos were duplicated and passed around colleagues.
2. Choisy-en-Brie is over 100km from 85 Sqdns activities between 13th and 19th May.
3. Being some 50km east of Paris, Choisy would not have been occupied by the Germans until the first week in June at the earliest. Surely there would have been ample time for the pilot, or word of him, to get back.
4. A trip to the location by someone with a few weeks to spare could at least verify from the landscape if Choisy was a possibility.