ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 228718
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| Date: | Saturday 1 June 1940 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia |
| Owner/operator: | 41 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | P9314 |
| MSN: | 516 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Dunkerque, Pas de Calais, Hauts de France -
 France
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Hornchurch, Essex |
P9314: Spitfire Mk Ia (c/no 516). First Flown 25-1-40. Delivered to the RAF at 10 MU Hullavington 14-2-40. Issued to 41 Squadron 14-4-40 as "EB-M". Written off (destroyed) when Failed To Return from combat operations 1-6-40; pilot killed.
According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident: "Spitfire N9344 [*sic] lost in air operations over Dunkirk, France, 1 June 1940. Flying Officer W E L Legard: missing presumed dead"
Airborne from RAF Hornchurch, Essex, for a combat air patrol over the Calais-Dunkirk sector. Shot down over Dunkirk, and the pilot was killed.
Pilot of Spitfire P9314:
Flying Officer William Ernest "Billy" Legard, RAF 34045, age 29, posted 01/06/1940, as missing presumed killed.
William Ernest "Billy" Legard was born in Brompton Hall, Yorkshire in 1911; he arrived at 41 Squadron on 26th November 1939. He was killed when Spitfire P9314 was shot down on 1st June 1940, he was 29 years old. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. The Legard family own Scampston and West Knapton Halls in Ryedale. Through marriage Billy Legard is a direct descendant of George Cayley (also of Brompton Hall), a 19th Century pioneer of aviation.
Note that the official Air Ministry file AIR 81/725 is in error with regard to the Spitfire involved. Serial N9344 was a Tiger Moth, not a Spitfire (part of a batch of 50 Tiger Moths serialled N9300 to N9349). In addition, several unofficial published sources give the Spitfire's serial as "P9344". However "P9344" was never allocated, being part of a "black out block" of unused serials between P9340 and P9360.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/725: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502502
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803276/legard,-william-ernest/
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/41_squadron.html#0106
5. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york40/k9835.html
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/10569.php
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15257408/william-ernest-legard
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Sep-2019 20:25 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 04-Sep-2019 06:35 | stehlík49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 14-Mar-2020 00:59 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
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