'Roasted' Mosquito pictures

[BC]

Hi all:

In Dr Alfred Price's Blitz On Britain (p161) is a picture of an 85 Sqn Mosquito NF XII which flew through the burning debris from an exploding Ju 188 (sic), intercepted and destroyed over the sea en route to London on 24-25 March 1944. F/O Hedgecoe and F/O Bamford were the crew involved, they managed to return to base and land safely at West Malling despite their Mosquito being badly scorched by flaming fuel and oil.

In Mosquito by M J F Bowyer and C M Sharp (plate 83) is a picture which is very similar and also shows a Mosquito 'roasted' by blazing debris from an enemy aircraft. This picture however, has two airmen standing by the fuselage of the aircraft. The caption says it was an aircraft from 264 Sqn which landed on an Allied airfield in Normandy in August 1944 after a combat.

In The Men Who Flew The Mosquito by Martin Bowman, there is a copy of the same picture above, but the caption identifies it as the 85 Sqn machine flown by Hedgecoe and Bamford, claiming they are the crew with it.

Detailed examination of the two pictures show they are not the same aircraft, the extent of fire damage to the rudder fabric and on the tail fin are visibly different.

Can anybody help me sort this little puzzle out ?

TIA - and Merry Christmas!

BC