Details - Death of W/C Patrick Henry Woodruff

[Neil T.]

I'm interested in finding out the particulars of the mid-air collision of two Spitfires - MA507 and MH397 - near Thessaloniki, Greece on Feb. 27, 1945. The pilot of MA507, W/C Patrick Henry Woodruff was killed, while the pilot of the other Spitfire, F/L Baltazzis of 336 Squadron, was injured but able to land his aircraft. Is there a more detailed flying accident or court of inquiry report(s) available?
Neil T.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

If you don't have it yet, you can download for free the ORB of 336 Sqn (file for Form 540 February 1945: https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D8402025), thanks to the Covid

The Form 541 has nothing on this crash. From the preview of the Form 540, the crash is reported to have occured on the 28th, while all other sources (CWGC, Spitfire production list) have it on the 27th.

You can try to check the Squadron's appendices (https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...e/r/h/C2504378), sometimes accident reports and combat reports can be found in them, but most of the times they are compilations of administrative reports (personal lists and so on).

[Neil T.]

Thank you Laurent - I'll try what you've suggested.
Neil