Date:	Friday 12 July 1940
Time:	08:50 LT
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Owner/operator:	85 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2557
MSN:	VY-C
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Felixstowe, Suffolk -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 P2557 (VY-C) 85 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from Combat Air Patrol. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Military file into the incident (File AIR 81/1102): "Hurricane P2557 lost in air operations, 12 July 1940. Sergeant L Jowitt: missing presumed dead"

Sgt. Leonard ‘Joey’ Jowitt joined the R.A.F. at 16 as an aircraft apprentice. He served in India and on his return in 1937 trained as a fighter pilot. He then joined No 85 Squadron and was flying patrol on the 12th of July 1940 in his Hurricane I (P2557). He crashed into the sea off Felixstowe at 08:50 after attacking a Heinkel He 111 of II Gruppe of KG 53 and was killed. His body was never recovered.

At 08:00 hours, a large formation comprising He 111s from III/KG 53 and Do 17s from II/KG 2 was detected heading towards the convoy codenamed BOOTY off the Suffolk coast. Six Hurricanes of No. 17 Squadron from Martlesham Heath were up and en route to patrol over the convoy, when notified of the incoming raid. They were reinforced by seventeen Hurricanes from Nos. 85, 242, and 151 Squadrons and six Defiants from No. 264 Squadron. In the ensuing combat, five bombers were shot down. Two Hurricanes were also lost to return fire: P2557 of 85 Squadron (Sgt Leonard Jowitt) and P3257 of 151 Squadron (F/O J.H.L. Allen)

Crew of Hurricane P2557:
Sgt Leonard Jowitt (Pilot) RAF 562160, aged 26 - killed in action 12/07/1940, body not found/not recovered

As Hurricane P2557 was never found, and the body of the pilot was never recovered, he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1102: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502835
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1802425/jowitt,-leonard/
4. Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 by Norman L R Franks
5. https://www.cbfs.org.uk/85-squadron/last-of-the-few/
6. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=297230817309487&story_fbid=556517918047441
7. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Jowitt.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Jun-2015 14:20	Thomas Fuk	Added
13-Jul-2015 06:48	angels one five	Updated [Source, Narrative]
11-Mar-2016 19:16	Red Dragon	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
13-Oct-2019 23:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Oct-2019 23:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-Oct-2019 23:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
26-Nov-2021 20:28	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]