ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 152686
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| Date: | Monday 9 November 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa |
| Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | P7372 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Race Farm, Panteg, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
| RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
Supermarine Spitfire P7372 Mk IIa, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory. Delivered to the RAF at No 8 MU 6-9-40, assigned to 19 Squadron 26-9-40, to Rolls-Royce Hucknall 19-12-40, assigned to 121 (Eagle) Squadron, RAF 22-10-41, transferred to 340 Squadron 11-11-41, transferred to 53 OTU 20-4-42, Flying Accident Cat B 16-5-42, Repaired On Site and returned to service.
The aircraft collided with P8193 and crashed at Race Farm, Newport Road, Panteg, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire on 9-11-42. Pilot killed. This aircraft was a presentation Spitfire presented to the nation, named "Hyderabad". The other Spitfire, P8193, landed safely back at RAF Llandow. ( P8193 crashed in Northumberland in 1944 ).
Pilot: Sgt Llewellyn Evans ( Service Number 778747, South African, aged 19 ) RAFVR - killed. Buried Leeds (Lawns Wood) Cemetery, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
R.I.P.
Details:
A late MkIa Castle Bromwich aircraft, another gifted aircraft with funds raised by the City of Hyderabad, taken on RAF strength at No.8MU on the 6th of September 1940, then arriving at No.19 squadron on the 26th of September. Her first operational patrol took place on the 12th of October and flown by Sqn/Ldr Brian ‘Sandy’ Lane leading the patrol over the base at 20,000 feet, but nothing seen. Her regular pilot became Sgt Plzak who flew her on numerous ops’. On the 19th of December 1940 she was sent to the Rolls Royce plant at Hucknall and fitted with a MXII Merlin and re-fitted to the mark IIa spec’ which took the best part of eight months and after a short period in storage she came to No. 121 ‘Eagle’ squadron on the 22nd of October 1941. 121 Sqn’ was one of three Eagle Squadrons manned by American volunteers. During the later part of 1941 the squadron was in a period of upgrading to the superior mark V resulting in P7372 being on the squadron strength for less than a month, she was moved again to 340 Sqn, arriving on the 11th of November.
No. 340 (Free French) Squadron RAF was formed at RAF Turnhouse in Scotland on the 7th of November 1941 as part of Le Groupe de Chasse IV/2 (Fighter Group 4-2) "Ile de France". The squadron was first equipped with Spitfire MkI fighters and consisted of two flights - A Flight ("Paris") and B Flight ("Versailles"). However, she was unused and once again, pushed out of the squadron when 340 received the V Spitfire. Her final posting was 53 OTU.
P7372 arrived at Llandow on the 20th of April 1942. She suffered a Cat B’ accident on the 16th of May and easily repaired at the neighbouring airfield at St Athan. Then on the 9th of November she collided with P8193 and crashed at Race Farm, Panteg near Pontypool, Monmouthshire. P8193 was able to return to Llandow without any further issues, pilot safe.
Crew:
Sgt Llewellyn Evans 19yo 778747 RAFVR. Pilot. Killed.
Son of Dwye Meredith Evans and Doris Alice Evans of Pretoria, Transvaal South Africa.
Buried:
Leeds (Lawnswood) Cemetery. Section B. Cons. Grave 424.
Wreckage:
Unknown.
Memorials:
CWGC Headstone.
Additional Information:
Lane joined the Royal Air Force in 1936, with service number 37859. After training at 3 E&RFTS Hamble in March 1936, he was posted to No. 11 Flying Training School at RAF Wittering on the 1st of June and was commissioned int the RAF General Duties Branch during May 1936 on a short service commission. On completion of his training joined 66 Sqn’ at RAF Duxford on the 8th of January 1937 at the rank of Pilot Officer. In June 1937 Lane moved to No.213 Sqn’ at RAF Northolt. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 23rd of December 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of war, Lane joined 19 squadron at RAF Duxford as an Officer Commanding "A" Flight.
In June 1940, Lane married famous racing driver Eileen Ellison in Cambridge.
During the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 Lane was awarded the DFC for his bravery and his official rating as a fighter pilot classed ‘exceptional’. He became acting Squadron commander on the 25th of May 1940 when the incumbent CO was killed over Dunkirk.
By September 1940, during the peak of the Battle of Britain, Lane’s abilities as a fighter pilot and leader were duly recognised and he was promoted to Squadron Leader.
19Sqn’ often operated with No.242 Sqn’ and led by 242's Sqn/Ldr Douglas Bader, the Squadrons often working together as part of the controversial Duxford "Big Wing".
After the Battle of Britain, Lane continued flying with 19 Squadron until June 1941 when he was posted to No.12 Group RAF staff at RAF Hucknall.
In November 1941 Lane was posted on a staff appointment to the Middle East. In June 1942 Lane returned to England to command No. 61 OTU at Mountford Bridge, until December 1942 when he joined No.167 Sqn’ RAF at RAF Ludham as a supernumerary Squadron Leader flying the Spitfire MkV.
He made his first operational flight with the Squadron on the 13th of December 1942, during which he was last seen giving chase to two Focke-Wulf 190 fighters. He never returned from this mission and was listed as Missing in Action”. Lane has no known grave having most likely been shot down over the North Sea. It is probable he was a victim of Oblt. Leonhardt of 6/JG-1 and crashed into the sea 30 km west of Schouwen at 16:34 hrs.
During Lane’s operational career he claimed 6 (and 1 shared) enemy aircraft shot down, 2 unconfirmed destroyed, 1 probable destroyed and 1 damaged.
He is remembered on panel 65 at the Runnymede Memorial.
Published work:
Lane was the author of ‘Spitfire’, originally published in 1942 under the pseudonym B.J. Ellan. The book is a first-hand account of his experiences as a front-line Spitfire pilot and is one of only a few contemporaneous autobiographical accounts of the life of a Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot.
Stanislav Plzak was born in Plzen, Czechoslovakia on the 13th of November 1914. He joined the Military Aviation Academy at Prostejov as a cadet on 1st October 1932 and began his military service on 1st August 1934. He was posted to the training squadron of the 1st Air Regiment at Prague-Kbely. Later he was transferred to the 4th Observation Squadron at the same airfield. He served there until 28th September 1937, having completed pilot and night-flying training. He was selected for fighter pilot training and went to the Military Aviation Academy at Hradec Kralove. On the 15th of February 1938 he was posted to the 4th Air Regiment and on 30th June he went to the Regiment's 32nd Fighter Squadron which was equipped with B-534 aircraft. After the Germans took over the country in March 1939 Plzak was demobilised. On 8th June he crossed the border near Radvanice into Poland and reported to the Czech Consul in Krakow. They arranged for him to travel to Gdynia where he boarded the Kastelholm, in which he sailed to Boulogne, arriving on the 31st of July.
Plzak was required to join the French Foreign Legion, but war was declared just as he due to be posted to the Legion base in Algeria. On the 1st of June he shared in the destruction of a He111 and on the 5th he shared in destroying two Me109's. The German advance caused GC II/2 to move airfields frequently as it retreated westward and by mid-June the unit was at Frejorgues, near Montpellier in southern France. After the French collapse Plzak was released from service, he eventually arrived in Liverpool on the 12th of July. Plzak was sent to the Czech Transit Camp at Cholmondeley but moved to the Airmens Depot at Cosford on the 20th of July. He enlisted in the RAFVR on the 25th and joined 310 Squadron at Duxford.
He was attached to 19 Squadron at Fowlmere on the 27th of August. On 4th September Plzak probably destroyed a Me109 and on the 5th destroyed another. He destroyed a Ju88 on the 18th of September and a Me109 on the 27th. On the 15th of November he destroyed a Me110. He was shot down by Me109's over Southend on the 28th of November 1940 but was unhurt, he damaged a Me109 on the 27th of June 1941. He was commissioned on 7th August 1941. On the same day he was on a sortie with 19 Squadron over Mardyck in Spitfire P7771, the last sortie of his operational tour. On the return from escorting Blenheim bombers which attacked Lille, the formation was attacked by Me109's from JG2 and JG26 near Calais. Plzak's aircraft was shot down and probably crashed into the English Channel. His body was never recovered.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, panel 34
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Each of these craft bore a name suggested by the donor and this was marked, according to official instructions, in four-inch yellow characters on the engine cowling, but this ruling was not rigidly applied. Some limiting factor was necessary in order that camouflage was not compromised.
The city gifted enough Spitfires to form a squadron. No 152 Squadron became the gift squadron of Hyderabad and took as its badge the head-dress of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Sources:
1. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p003.html
2. Halley, J J, 1996, Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000 to R9999, p.66.
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2408685/evans,-llewellyn/
4. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
5. http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/19914
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7064-421109-Unaccounted-airmen-9-11-1942
7. https://fyldebbmfund.wordpress.com/gifts-of-war-presentation-spitfires/
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
https://bentleypriorymuseum.org.uk
www.bbm.org.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Jan-2013 01:42 | angels one five | Added |
| 23-Jan-2013 01:43 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 16-Jul-2015 20:56 | Angel dick one | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-May-2019 17:22 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 25-May-2019 11:41 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 25-Sep-2019 02:47 | angels one five | Updated [Cn, Narrative] |
| 06-Nov-2022 07:18 | Davies 62 | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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