ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 228069
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| Date: | Wednesday 22 May 1940 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 |
| Owner/operator: | 605 (County of Warwick) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | N2349 |
| MSN: | UP-V |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Vermelles, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region -
 France
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent |
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I N2439 (UP-V) 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) for a combat air patrol on 22 May 1940. Pilot - Flying Officer Graham W B Austin - bailed out and survived. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/518): "Hurricane N2349 crashed at Vermilles, France, 22 May 1940. Flying Officer G W B Austin, injured".
Airborne for a combat air patrol over the area of Arras, Pas de Calais, France. Shot down at Vermilles, south east of Bethune, France. According to a published account of 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron's activities on this day (22 May 1940):
"Shortly after 4.30 the call came for the Squadron to scramble and patrol the Calais and Boulogne areas. No enemy aircraft were sighted on this patrol, but later that day after another scramble a group of Heinkel 111s were sighted. Jock Muirhead destroyed one and Mike Cooper-Slipper shared another. Whilst patrolling the Arras area of France the Squadron were jumped by a group of Bf-109s. This was not to prove a very successful first encounter with Germany's front line fighter, with 'Bunny' Currant having to make a forced landing in France and suffering a broken nose. Graham Austin's Hurricane was also hit and set on fire with one enemy bullet hitting him in the left leg, but in spite of this wound he was able to bail out near Vermelles.
Both 'Bunny' and Graham were fortunate in that they both came down near to the Allied lines and Graham was evacuated from Dunkirk to Newhaven aboard a hospital ship. After a short spell at a civil hospital at Barnet he was transferred to Torquay. Bunny also returned by ship and made it back to Hawkinge that same day."
Hurricane N2349 came down at Vermelles, a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France, at approximate coordinates: 50°29′20″N 2°44′48″E.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 13)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/518: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502139
3. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=757
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/605_squadron.html
5. http://www.605squadron.co.uk/We%20Never%20Slept%20-%20The%20Story%20of%20605%20Squadron.pdf
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 15 September 1940 | L2012 | 605 (County of Warwick) Sqn RAF | 0 | Church Farm, Marden, Kent, England |  |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Aug-2019 22:02 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 09-Aug-2019 22:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 09-Aug-2019 22:06 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 10-Aug-2019 10:55 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
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