Vought OS2U floatplane shot down june 25 1944

[Leendert]

RAF No. 63 Squadron with Spitfires was also engaged in spotting missions over Cherbourg on 25 June 1944. F/Lt B.F. Cleeton (RCAF) was shot down by Flak and got killed in Spitfire AD469.
Of same squadron BL987 also shot down during Cherbourg spotting mission, pilot F/O Duff safe.

Unfortunately, no times mentioned in Summary.

Regards, Leendert

[twocee]

Nick,

What I have is 17 pilots from the six ships parking their aircraft at Lee, then training on Spitfires at Middle Wallop and returning to Lee for operations?

[dp_burke]

From B F Cleeton's service file:



REPORT ON CASUALTY : E/0. B.F.CLEETON (CAN.J.12234)

r/o. B.F.Cleeton is missing from air operations under the following circumstances.

At 10.55 hours on 25th June 1944, F/Lt. Gorton and F/o.
B.F.Cleeton took off from Lee-on-Solent in Spitfire aircraft
to carry out spotting for naval craft bombarding the Cherbourg
Peninsular.

Weather was clear and the French coast was crossed 15
miles West of Cherbourg at about 3800 feet.

Two miles inland F/0 Cleeton rolled over on his back and
dived towards the ground ending up in the direction pair were
travelling. F/Lt. Gorton saw some flak coming up and did not
see F/0 Cleeton again. He immediately started calling him and
searching but was unable to locate him. Returning to place he
had last seen him F/Lt. Gorton noticed a fire on ground which
he could not identify as burning aircraft. F/Lt. Gorton continued
to search and call F/o. Cleeton until instructed to return to
base.

Sgd: M.Savage,

Squadron Leader, Commanding,
No.63 Squadron, Lee-on-Solent.

[Buckeye30]

Thanks George. They were trained by the 67thTRG (Ninth AF) at Middle Wallop which was designated Station 449, as they had flown Recon. Spitfires previously; c/o was Col. G W Peck. They moved to Lee (not far away still in Hampshire) on 28 May 44 to the "Pool" of 5 RAF, 4 FAA and VCS-7 squadrons. I believe pilots flew what was available at the time.
These are their ex-cruiser SOCs and OS2Us (National Archives photo) parked temporarily, don't know the airfield but there's a big Type "J" hangar in back; somewhere in the south I imagine.


Regards
Nick


vcs7 by Nicholas King, on Flickr

[twocee]

They would have needed an airfield with a seaplane ramp so Lee seems the most likely?

[martin75]

On 25 june, the Air Spotting Pool flew 142 missions over Cherbourg.
36 for 63 Squadron
30 for 26 Squadron
17 for VCS-7
59 for Squadrons of Fleet Air Arm (12 for 808 Squadron, 18 for 885 Squadron, 18 for 886 Squadron and 11 for 897 Squadron)
Seafire NF511 crashed at Godlington near Swanage on return flight (bad meteo conditions). Pilot sub-lt A. Horstead (886 Squadron) died from injuries a few days later.
Claude

[Leendert]

IMHO the whole (mis?)interpretation of a USN shipboard spotting plane loss stems from the USS Tuscaloosa report of the Cherbourg bombardment.

See item (k) here: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78556548?objectPage=4

Again IMHO the 'Tuscaloosa's spotting plane' was not an OS2U or SOC (which were parked at Lee-on-Solent), but an a/c of one of the FAA/RAF/VCS squadrons that took part for artillery spotting, and working for that USN ship.

Report speaks of "weaver", or wingman, more pointing to a fighter effort.

Also see 1145 on this page, with location of crash: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78556548?objectPage=8

Location "9828" = vicinity La Hague, somewhat west of Cherbourg (French Lambert Zone 1, vN9828 on the Echodelta.net coordinates translator).

Ship's report also does not mention any loss of 'own' aviators.

Regards, Leendert