ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 225200
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 July 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia |
| Owner/operator: | 61 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | R6777 |
| MSN: | 803 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Gadlys Mounts, Blackmill, north of Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Rednall |
| RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
Spitfire R6777 was assigned to the 53 OTU RAF Llandow from 3rd January 1942. The aircraft was destroyed when it broke up in mid-air and crashed at Gadlys Mounts (mounts could be mistaken with mountain?), Blackmill, Glamorgan on 8th July 1942. The pilot was killed.
Sgt Jack Edgar ASHWELL 657868 RAF is buried at New Southgate Cemetery.
R.I.P.
Details:
R6777 was built at the Eastleigh works and was number 803 off the line. She first flew on the 21st of June 1940, then fitted out at No.8 MU on the 22nd of June. Her first squadron was No.65 at RAF Hornchurch, arriving on the 12th of July. Her first flight with them happened on the 18th of July. P/O Plyman, having recently joined the squadron on the 20th of July. F/O Pyman’s first ‘operational patrol’ began at 0830hrs, taking off from Hornchurch, which lasted for one hour forty minutes on Saturday 27th July, flying Spitfire L1094, landing finally at Manston. The weather on this day had the threat of thunder in the air with towering cumulonimbus clouds building up all morning, whilst a convoy of ships were making their way east along the channel (codenamed Bacon) Lawrence Pyman took off for another patrol at 1225 in the same Spitfire but by now the weather had deteriorated with lightning striking some of the barrage balloons and he landed a half an hour later. At 1615 hrs he took off from Manston for the short twenty-minute flight back to Hornchurch. During the early evening, Keith Park ordered that three squadrons should cover the Bacon Convoy as it had entered the Biggin Hill Sector and feared that an attack would be made upon it. F/O Pyman took off again for the fourth time in Spitfire L1094 for a patrol lasting just forty-five minutes, with no attacks being made. On Sunday the 28th of July, the weather was fine and sunny and F/O Pyman was woken early and soon found himself in the cockpit of Spitfire R6777 taking off with six other pilots at 0545hrs on a practice flight to Manston. After breakfast they all returned to Hornchurch at 0930hrs, the squadron diary records, ‘Exceptionally Quiet’.
Apart from the date mentioned previously, R6777 was the regular mount for Sgt Orchard who flew her on a number of occasions until the 30th of July, returning after a quiet patrol they suffered a landing accident that wiped out the propeller and shaft without injury to Orchard. This damage was enough to see her sent off base for a replacement engine and propeller assembly. As for Sgt Ochard, he opened his scoreboard on the 4th of August with a destroyed 109 and a damaged 109.
After repair, R6777 was sent to No.616 squadron on the 20th of August where she flew only twice and both occasions on a practice flight. She then came to 72 squadron on the 2nd of September who were in the thick of it at RAF Biggin Hill and had only the day before moved to RAF Croydon. Here she was to become a standby aircraft, in the afternoon she was flown by Sgt Gildens who scored along with his No1 a destroyed Me-110 and damage a Dornier Do-17. She flew on two separate occasions with P/O Case and again twice by Sgt Glew.
Her next posting was to No.145 squadron after a time in storage arriving on the 4th of February 1941. The following month she came to the AFDU (Air Fighting Development Unit). The AFDU was an air technical intelligence part of the RAF which developed tactics and tested captured enemy aircraft. It was based at RAF stations Northolt, Duxford, and Wittering. Here the aircraft performed comparative trials, and hopefully developed tactics effective against opposing aircraft types. (The Fw190 hadn’t arrived at this time and still sat at RAF Pembrey). R6777 only stayed here for two weeks and left after the captured Focke Wulf arrived then the officials saw just how much the early Spitfire was left wanting! R6777 left for No.152 squadron on the 13th of February. Once again, she was used as a backup! Very soon she came into the ASU and the training units, first with 57 OTU on the 4th of August.
Records now become a little vague! They state that she went to No.61 OTU on the 3rd of January 1942. 61 OTU was stationed at this time at RAF Heston outside London and during July 1942, at RAF Rednal at Oswestry. It appears that she was on a cross country navigation exercise and the pilot may have been trying for one of the RAF stations to refuel, this we will never know as he was passing over Gadlys Farm on the southern slopes of the Glamorgan Fans. The farmer, who was outside tending to his cattle, relayed to me many years later of how he saw the Spitfire just break apart at a ‘decent’ height and how the bits of aircraft spread out over two fields came down with the main fuselage entering a wooded valley above the small village of Blackmill. He also regaled how he was involved with the rescue and recovery crews from St Athan, track down the aircraft remnants from his fields and just how through they were! The teams were there for about two weeks and after finally finding ALL the pilots remains and the majority of aircraft, simply left. This was the sad end for a Battle of Britain veteran and its young pilot.
Crew:
Sgt Jack Edgar Ashwell 22yo 657868 RAF. Pilot. Killed.
Buried:
New Southgate Cemetery. Section A.C. Grave 953.
Wreckage:
All removed but fragments can be seen in the woods and fields (ALL OF WHICH ARE ON PRIVATE GROUND)!
Memorials:
CWGC Headstone.
Battle of Britain Monument.
Additional Information:
Plyman’s personal record states.
“At 1150hrs on the 14th of August 1940, 65 Squadron operating from Manston were detailed to intercept raiders in the Channel. I was in the position of Yellow 3 and as such rearmost aircraft of the squadron. When near Dover at 15,000ft I was attacked by a Me109 and in attempting to engage it I became separated from the squadron. While trying to re-join, I sighted and engaged a Me109 from astern and below. After a 2 second burst from 250yds, it went down in flames, pieces falling away as it went. I then engaged another Me109 and attacking from astern, I fired 2 short bursts from 350yds, no visible effect was seen. While pursuing this enemy aircraft, I was attacked myself and suffered considerable damage. Six (cannon) shells hit my fuselage and one wing, severing the rudder controls completely. The elevator cables and wireless were also hit. A number of bullet holes were found as well. I managed, however, to return to Manston and force-landed, with very little additional damage to my wingtips”.
P/O Pyman used just 960 rounds in this dogfight with the three Me109’s, his aircraft being hit by six 20mm cannon shells and a number of 7.9mm bullets from the MG17 machine guns of the 109’s. His aircraft would be unserviceable for seven days.
Lawrence Pyman managed to get a day’s rest before taking off on the 16th of August for Manston with his flight at 14:25hrs in Spitfire K9915. With the success of the previous days attacks, the Luftwaffe High Command calculated (wrongly) that the RAF was down to just 430 fighter aircraft, whereas they did in fact have 570 Spitfire and Hurricanes along with another 102 Defiants, Gladiators and Blenheim’s. Even so, every raid that the RAF met outgunned it massively. Raids began at noon, with attacks on airfields destroying many aircraft on the ground, Tangmere being devastated by Stukas by around lunchtime. During the late afternoon, three more bombing raids in conjunction with a number of free chases over Kent seeing eight of these ‘free chasing’ Me109’s swung south over the North Foreland and swept over Manston, machine-gunning parked aircraft and buildings. Six Spitfires from 65 Squadron including Pyeman chased after them and engaged them in a dogfight over Deal. At some time around 17:30hrs P/O Pyman was shot down, crashing into the Channel. His body was recovered by the Germans and later taken to the hospital mortuary at Calais to join another fallen British pilot on that day, Sub Lieutenant Henry la Fone Greenshields of the Fleet Air Arm (attached to 266 Squadron). Both pilots were buried next to each other at Calais Southern Cemetery France, in Plots P and Q of Grave 18, the Luftwaffe honouring the two heroic pilots by giving them a Guard of Honour at their graveside.
On 27th August the squadron was rested and moved north to Turnhouse. After training new pilots, it moved back south to Tangmere on 29th November 1940.
Taking the fight back to the enaemy the RAF began the now infamous Rhubarbs and other intruder raids by Fighter Command. During a sweep to attack the aerodrome at St. Omer on the 5th of February 1941, Sgt Harold Charles Orchard who was only 24, was shot down in Spitfire II P7733 and killed. He is buried in Neufchatel New Cemetery, Neufchatel-Hardelot, France.
Sources:
1. Doylerush, E, 2008, Rocks in the Clouds: High Ground Aircraft Crashes in South Wales, p.109.
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p010.html
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/21/W1278: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6577492
www.battleofbritainmonument.com
rafcommands.com
avialogs,com
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-May-2019 21:45 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 25-May-2019 11:38 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 22-Nov-2019 17:22 | Chrisj | Updated [Location] |
| 22-Nov-2019 17:43 | Chrisj | Updated [Location, Damage, Narrative] |
| 21-Jun-2022 20:37 | angels one five | Updated [Location, Nature, Damage, Narrative] |
| 22-Jun-2022 19:11 | Davies 62 | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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