ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 154217
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| Date: | Sunday 5 July 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa |
| Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | P7504 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Welsh St Donats, 2½ mile NE of Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
| RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
Spitfire P7504 was a Mk II out from 53 OTU (Operational Training Unit) and was piloted by Sgt P.R. Swan. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision on 5th July 1942 with another Spitfire, P8592 (also of 53 OTU), over Welsh St.Donats, 2½ mile North East of Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan.
Sgt Swan’s body was found some yards from the aircraft wreckage suggesting that he had attempted to bail out, but was too low for his chute to open fully. Remains of this aircraft were removed by the North Gwent Aviation Group.
Pilot: Sergeant Philip Raymond Swan (Service Number 1387580, aged 22) R,I.P.
Buried Rotherfield Peppard (All Saints) New Churchyard, Grave 72.
Mission: Formation Practice.
Details:
P7504.
RAF service began with No.8 MU on the 11th of October 1940. Her first squadron was 66 squadron at RAF Biggin Hill on the 21st of October, her first operational sortie took place on the 26th, and flown by P/O Baker. One Destroyed and one damaged Messerschmitt Me-109’s credited to her guns. P/O Baker and P7504 was Scrambled FOUR times that day.
On the 14th of February 1941 she was being flown by none other than ‘Dizzy’ Allen (80th aniv’ Spitfire X4255 15th of June). The following is an excerpt from the squadron records for that day:
“Biggin Hill. 14.2.41 11:00hrs.
Ten aircraft took off on an interception patrol over Dover at 16,000 Ft. They were jumped by 20-30 Me-109’s. P/O Pickering managed to damage one, P/O Oliver Bodie and Sgt Parsons were shot up but were uninjured and landed at base. F/Lt R. H. Allen was wounded in the arm but managed to land at base. His aircraft, P7504 was damaged. P/O Maxwell failed to return and was listed as missing to Uxbridge.”
P7504 had to be flown away for repair and later returned to front line service for a time with No.74 ‘Tiger’ squadron, arriving on the 9th of July 1941. 74 squadron were moved north to RAF Acklington for rest and regrouping. P7504 was first flown by P/O Bishop on the 11th of July on formation practice. Here she stayed, the squadron began to receive the mark V’s, then during April 1942, the squadron were deployed overseas to Ramat David in Palestine (now known as Israel). The squadron finally made a move from RAF Long Kesh in April 1942 when it was sent the Middle East, arriving in Egypt in June. The ship carrying their aircraft they had been due to fly had been sunk leaving the Tigers without anything to fly. No. 74 (F) Squadron was then moved to Palestine in July where a decision was made for the squadron to operate as a maintenance unit for USAAF B-24 Liberators. The squadron finally recovered its air capability in December 1942 when they received Hurricane Mk.IIb’s. P7504 was left behind until ferried to 53 OTU on the 19th of May 1942.
P8592.
She was one of the last early Spitfires built and fitted out at 38MU 0n the 4th of July 1941. Her first squadron was No. 222 at RAF Manston. Arrived on the 12th of July. First operational patrol took place on the following day, flown by Sgt Christie on a section dusk patrol. On the 17th of July she was again flown by Christie, along with another Spitfire to search for downed aircrew in the water. Her first combat sortie occurred on the 9th of August, flown by Sgt Ferraby, the flights task was to escort a force of six Blenheims on a sweep over Hazebrouck. The 16th of August saw Sgt Sharples flying P8592 along with another eleven Spitfires on a fighter sweep over Dunkirk, St Omer and Gravelines without encountering anything. Her last ‘aggressive’ sortie took place the following day, this time they were to escort three Beauforts which were directed to torpedo a 5,000-ton ship off Boulogne. By the end of August, the squadron took their first mark V Spitfires and almost immediately the worn-out earlier Spitfires were put to one side to await their following deployments. P8592 then came to No.132 squadron on the 27th of November. The squadron reformed in 1941 as a fighter unit equipped with the Spitfire mk1’s and then provided air defence from Peterhead in Scotland. P8592 had an uneventful stay until she too came to 53 OTU on the 5th of July 1941.
P7504 and P8592 were on a formation training exercise just north of Llandow when they came into contact. P8592 came down to earth immediately after the collision and killing the New Zealand pilot. P7504 it would appear lasted a short time afterwards until the pilot finally lost control and attempted to abandon the aircraft but sadly, he was too low, his broken body was found a short distance from the final resting place of his Spitfire.
Crew:
P7504:
Sgt Philip Raymond Swan 22yo 1387580 RAFVR. Pilot. Killed. 1
Son of Sidney George and Anne Swan of Sonning Common.
P8592:
Sgt Russell Stanley Pearce 20yo 413117 RNZAF. Pilot. Killed. 2
Son of Frank Halliday Pearce and Marguerite Mary Pearce of Bluff Southland, New Zealand.
Buried:
1 Rotherfield Peppard (All Saints) New Churchyard. Grave 72.
2 Llantwit Major Cemetery. Section C. Grave 27.
Wreckage:
P7504:
Wreckage was removed days after. However, there lay a substantial amount below the surface. The site was excavated with the remains recovered by the then North Gwent Aviation Group. These artifacts I believe remain in the hands of GGAT ‘Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust’. Of which I have seen on the internet ‘For sale’??
P8592:
Wreckage removed by recovery crews out of RAF St Athan. The actual site still eludes me, I understand that it is just north of Welsh St Donats.
Memorials:
CWGC Headstones.
Sources:
1. Fallen Flyers: Tragedy in the Skies Over Wartime Gower (Wartime Record) Bryngold Books Ltd; First edition (1 May 2005) by Steven H. Jones
2. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2421911/swan,-philip-raymond/
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?6081&styleid=3
5. http://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/P7504
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p004.html
7. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/489555421976395278
nationalarchives.gov
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Mar-2013 23:41 | angels one five | Added |
| 19-Mar-2013 00:01 | angels one five | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 16-Jul-2015 20:55 | Angel dick one | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-May-2019 19:43 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Jan-2021 07:23 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 17-Apr-2021 07:38 | angels one five | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 16-Jun-2022 18:34 | Davies 62 | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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