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  #1  
Old 17th September 2010, 18:10
engleworth engleworth is offline
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Downed Spit




For a number of years on and off I have been trying to find out the details of the young pilot of a Spitfire, which crashed on my grandmother’s house during WWII. 1942-43, but have been unable to do so. I wondered if anyone on this site could help with the following meagre guide. My mother and I arrived on the scene a day or so later. One thing I have not forgotten is the sights of the tail plane on its own devoid of anything just the airframe, lying on the front lawn.
I have few details.
The pilot was 19. He may have been trying to make for the mass of green shrubbery that was behind the hedge adjacent to the house. However he never got that far, turned to port and crashed into the garage and died.
Wentworth Close is at the top of Ditton Hill, Surbiton; from the bottom a left turn. It is still there but whereas the close, which has a dogleg right, ended opposite my grandmother’s house at a thick hawthorn hedge, the road has now been carried through what were the grounds of a broken down Victorian house.
My grandmother’s house was then called ‘Sarre’ I’m afraid the number escapes me.
I never knew this lad but who ever he was I have always thought about him and regarded him as being extremely brave like all the others of his genre.
With thanks
Engleworth.
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Old 17th September 2010, 21:38
Leendert Leendert is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Engleworth,

A hard search and perhaps a post on the rafcommands.com forum may help as well.

Still, the only find I could make so far with the location you mentioned was as early as 4 September 1940 when Sgt John Wright crashed with his Hurricane P3676 of 79 Squadron at Wentworth Close. He died the next day.

I realize that the type, year and even age of the pilot (Sgt Wright was 24) don't quite match with your recollections, but perhaps this is a start anyways.

Regards,

Leendert
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Old 18th September 2010, 17:31
engleworth engleworth is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Hallo Leendert
Many thanks for your comments. Now then you have got me puzzled Two aircraft down in Wentworth Close? to me an unlikely senario I think. You see I have a good memory And I can see that tail. Definitly a Spit.
Had there been two I think I would have known.
Wentworth close was right in the flight path of outgoing and incoming aircraft. Brian Hannrahan's book 'I counted them out and I counted them back' re the Falklands war comes to mind. He was a bit late we did that in the early forties. As lads we knew what time they went out and then what time they would be likely to return from.
I will try rafcommands.
I am most grateful to you leendert
Many thanks and best wishes
engleworth
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Old 22nd September 2010, 00:48
Icare9 Icare9 is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Why not also try the Surbiton library for any newspaper archives or books about the War which might have details? Or a local history society? As you say, difficult to have more than one crash in your street, even if on a flight path!!
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Old 22nd September 2010, 17:42
engleworth engleworth is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icare9 View Post
Why not also try the Surbiton library for any newspaper archives or books about the War which might have details? Or a local history society? As you say, difficult to have more than one crash in your street, even if on a flight path!!
Thanks Icare9. Was it touch with the Surrey Comet some years back. They had no record of anything. They did say that its unlikely to have been reported, did'nt want to give the Germans cause to applaud. The library is a good idea though.
With regards
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Old 22nd September 2010, 20:48
Hans Nauta Hans Nauta is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Hello Engleworth,

Usually a date is the key factor in research with regard to an incident. Somehow this must have been reported by the local air raid precautions department, police, fire arms etc. I guess you already may have tried to figure out this?

Good luck!

Hans Nauta
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Old 4th October 2010, 13:21
David Morgan David Morgan is offline
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Re: Downed Spit

Engelworth - At 1335 hrs 4th Sept 1940 Hurricane P3676 from 79 Sqdn crashed at the end of Wentworth Close.Ditton Hill, Surbiton. The pilot was Sgt. John Wright. He was rescued, but died the following day in Surbiton hospital. He is buried in the New Kilpatrick Cemetery, in his hometown of Bearsden, Dumbarton Scotland.

I lived throuout the war at No. 6 Wentworth Close and saw the Hurricane as it narrowly missed the roof of my house before crashing into the corner of No. 15, which was the home of the Eldridge family. The aircraft was not a Spitfire and no Spitfire crashed anywhere near Ditton Hill during the war !

At the time, it was believed that John Wright's Hurricane had been damaged during the raid on the Vickers factory at Brooklands 9 miles to the west at 1320 - 1325 hrs. but this was not the case. John Wright had been 'shot down' near his base at Biggin Hill returning from an interception with 20+ Bf 110s crossing the coast at Beachy Head.

For unknown reasons - having been damaged, he flew west for 10 miles and attempted to land on a playing field in nearby Tolworth but abandoned that as children were playing in the field. 1 mile later he crashed.
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