Date:	Friday 5 July 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk I
Owner/operator:	64 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P9449
MSN:	612
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rouen, Seine Maritime -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kenley, Whyteleafe, Surrey
Destination airport:	RAF Kenley, Whyteleafe, Surrey

Narrative:
P9449: Spitfire Ia (c/no. 612) First Flown 4-4-40. Delivered to the RAF at 8 MU Little Rissington 8-4-40. Issued to 64 Squadron 2-6-40 Shot down by Bf109 of 4/JG51, 5-7-40 over Rouen, Seine Maritime, France

According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1023): "Spitfire P9449 lost in air operations over Rouen, France, 5 July 1940. Pilot Officer D K Milne: missing presumed dead"

Crew of Spitfire P9449:
Pilot Officer Douglas Keith Milne (pilot) RAF 42628 - killed in action 05/07/1940.

As no trace of Spitfire P9449 or its pilot was ever found, he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

Note that several sources, but official and unofficial, seem to contain errors as to the demise of the Spitfire and its pilot: for example, the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) lists P/O D K Milne as being as pilot with 46 Squadron (sic). This is presumed to be a "typo" for 64 Squadron.

Also, the fates of Spitfire P9449 and P9507 seem to have become mixed up; Spitfire P9449 was shot down over Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France on 5 July 1940, and P9507 was shot down by Bf 109s and force-landed at Hailsham, Sussex (F/O Taylor injured) on 17 July 1940. Spitfire P9507 was the replacement for P9449 and is recorded - presumably as a clerical error - in the ORB (Air Ministry file Air/27/589/20) and aircraft movement card as shot down on 5th July during an encounter with enemy aircraft near Rouen in France during which the pilot, P/O D.K. Milne, was killed.

However, P9507 is listed in the ORB again on 10th July, flown by F/O D.M. Taylor, with 13 flights being recorded before the aircraft is shot down again on the 17th July (supposedly by Helmut Wicks), with P9507 crash landing near Hailsham. Sussex. As before, this is recorded in the ORB and the movement card, which records the final entry as 'to 2119M' on 22nd October 1940 where it was presumably struck off charge to become a ground instructional airframe

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1023: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502862
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076914/milne,-douglas-keith/
4. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p009.html
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1331-P-O-D-K-MILNE-42628-64-Sqn
6. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/144744-mystery-of-spitfire-p9507?goto=newpost
7. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50800
8. First of the Few: 5 June - July 1940 By Brian Cull
9. Their Finest Hour: Stories of the Men who Won the Battle of Britain p 167 By Nick Thomas .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Aug-2008 11:29	Anon.	Added
11-Feb-2011 17:36	angels one five	Updated [Date, Cn, Nature, Narrative]
26-Dec-2011 12:34	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Jan-2012 02:34	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location]
04-Nov-2012 21:44	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Nature, Narrative]
07-Oct-2019 17:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Oct-2019 17:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Registration]
07-Oct-2019 17:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
08-Oct-2019 11:07	juza7	Updated [Operator]
08-Oct-2019 17:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Damage]