Hurricane P2701

[markjsheppard]

Geoff,

Great find with the photo find. Never seen photos before of the same aircraft - fully coded on her starboard and incomplete on the starboard.

Not completed, painted up first thing in the early summer morning before going off on dawn patrol.

So we still have a time scale of 13-20th May. (BofFT&N) and where she might slot in.

13th May - Lille-Seclin 9.25am
Hurricane P2821 S/Ldr Oliver - Bailed out. Write off.

14th May - Nothing

15th May - Lille-Seclin 1.15pm
Hurricane P2818 F/O Allen - Bailed out. Write off.
Hurricane ? F/O Pace - crash landed and burnt out. Write off.
Hurricane L1775 P/O Ashton - Bailed out. Write off.

16th May - Lille-Seclin 2.00pm
Hurricane L1641 P/O Angus Killed . Nr Frettin. Write off.
Hurricane P2535 P/O Rawlinson Killed. Nr Quiévrain. Write off.
Hurricane N2389 Sgt Crozier. Bailed out burned. Write off.
Hurricane L1898 Sgt Allgood. Merville take off. Nr Lille crash landing. W.Off
16th May - Seclin
Hurricane P2824 P/O Clark. wounded. Write off.
Hurricane L1640 F/O Czernin. Nr Seclin. Force landed. Write off.

17th May Lille-Seclin 4.00pm
Hurricane N2319 P/O Herrick Vilvoorde/Braine-le-Comte. Captured. W/off

18th May Lille-Seclin 7.30am
Hurricane N2425 F/O Lepine. Bailed out captured. Le Cateau/Cambrai.
Hurricane P2701 F/O Allen. Missing. Write off.

19th May Merville 11.02am
Hurricane P2562 Sgt Little missing. Lille. Caugh fire. Write off.
Hurricane N2601 Sgt Deacon unhurt. Damaged on ground. Abandoned.
Hurricane P2547 P/O Woods-Scawen bailed out.Lille. Write off.
19th May Merville 5.00pm
Hurricane P2551 VYoH. S/Ldr Peacock bailed out. Unhurt. Wrote off.

20th May Merville
Hurricane ? Wreck at dispersal. Bombing raid 11.30. Write off.
Hurricane P2555 Sgt Howes . Abberville. Shot down. 1115am. Write off.
Hurricane ? S/Ldr Peacock. Arras. Pilot killed. Write off.
Hurricane ? P/O Burton killed. Querrieu. Pilot killed. 3.30 Write off.
Hurricane P3426 P/O Shrewsbury Killed. Arras 3.30pm. Write off.

Four remaining Hurricane flew home followig day.

So somewhere in here is the correct day for P2701 and possibly the pilot. This information must have come from fragmented records and log books/debriefs back in the UK?

Still not a lot to go on to help establish where P2701 was lost and which pilot. Just not enough landscape information to help bit the two photos we havare a great help. I am sure one or might surface in the future.

regards

Mark

[Larry]

Regarding P2701 and Allen, if the aircraft was lost behind enemy lines even if it was in a state where under normal conditions it could have been repaired, the RAF would still record it as written off if it didn't return.

As for the pilot there are several possibilities; he died shortly after landing and was buried near his aircraft, and the grave site was not marked properly and became lost over time (unlikeliest), or he was buried somewhere else nearby such as a graveyard and the burial not properly recorded or he initially evaded capture and was lost en route to Dunkirk or even in in the evacuation.

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
GREAT to see photo of port AND starboard sides of P2701.
Thank you Geoff.
So What is the damage (?) to the tail unit ?
I originally took it to have been some sort of fold in the negative or print, but it can be seen in both pictures so was the white section of the fin flash being re-painted or is it some sort of damage ?
Alex

[paulmcmillan]

Sorry to dig up this again, but I was reading Page 208 of Fighter Boys by Patrick Bishop

And the passage reminded me on this thread

"Searching for his base in northern France after destroying a Me 110, Flight Lieutenant Ian Gleed of 87 Squadron saw a Hurricane flying serenely along and steered to join up with it. 'Just as I am drawing up to formate on this Hurricane, he dips I catch a fleeting glimpse of flying brick, and seemingly quite slowly, a Hurricane's tail, with the red, white and blue stripes, flies up past cockpit. I glance behind and see a cloud of dust slowly rising. He must have had some bullets in him to have hit that house. I wonder who was?'

The victim went to his end encased in a machine, sparing onlookers the horrible details. There was no body to confront. "


Now.. Trying to id this, incident.. then the 'evidence' as to this being Derek Hurlstone Allen #39840 (AFAIK) of 85 Squadron is that according to this web site

http://www.hatfield-herts.co.uk/aviation/gleed.html

On 17 May 1940 he arrived at 87 Squadron (which operated Hurricanes and had first deployed to France on 9 September 1939) as a replacement. He possibly became the RAF's fastest ace:
destroying two Bf110C's on 18 May, and two Do17z's and a Bf109E the next
day (he also shared in the destruction of a He111, and claimed another Bf109E as a probable).

So the incident of the Hurricane crash had to have happened after 17th May 1940 and the inference it being the 18th is the "after destroying a Me 110" the claimed two Bf110C (even though not 1) on 18 May.