Date:	Friday 7 June 1940
Time:	18:35
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	601 (County of London) Sqn RAF
Registration:	P3490
MSN:	UF-J
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Pulcheux, 2.3 km NW of Douvrend, Seine-Maritime, Normandy -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3490 (UF-J) 601 (County of London) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over France. Pilot survived, bailed out, eventually returned to his unit. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/827): "Hurricane P3490 failed to return from patrol over Somme area, France, 7 June 1940. Flying Officer P B Robinson: missing, later reported as safe".

Took off at 17:45 hours from RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire for a combat air patrol over the Dieppe area. Shot down at 18:35 hours at Pulcheux, 2.3 km NW of Douvrend, Somme Department, France. Pilot - F/O P B Robinson - bailed out, and managed to return to his unit. However, it is understood that he was declared as "non operational" due to injuries sustained in the above incident, by August 1940, and was withdrawn from flying duties.

Peter Beverley Robinson was born on 22nd January 1915 and joined 601 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force in 1934. In 1938 he went on to the Reserve when he left for New York, where he was to work in the theatre. 601 Squadron was warned for mobilisation in August 1939 and Roger Bushell contacted expatriate members of the squadron, including Robinson who was in a play on Broadway. He booked a passage on the Acquitania and sailed on 30th August, finding that two 601 colleagues, Billy Clyde and Billy Fiske, were also aboard.

Robinson went on to the active list on 8th December 1939 and rejoined 601 Squadron. After being shot down on 7th June 1940 as per the above, he managed to return to his unit. His subsequent service is currently undocumented but he transferred to the Administrative Branch on 23rd May 1941, perhaps due to health issues.

He was released from the RAF in 1945 as a Wing Commander. Postwar he was involved in documentary film-making in London. He died in 1992, aged 77. The reported crash location of Pulcheux is 2.3 km north west of Douvrend, a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France, some 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Dieppe, at approximate Coordinates: 49°52′12″N 1°19′25″E

On August 21st, 2016 an attempt was begun to excavate the wreckage of Hurricane P3490 from its crash site (see links #8 & #9)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) AIR 81/827: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502550
3. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/601_squadron.html
4. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7571
5. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/RobinsonPB.htm
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7447-BofB-Combat-report-unidentified/page2
7. National Archives PRO Kew: No. 601 Squadron ORB (AIR 27/2068), and Squadron combat reports (AIR 50/165)
8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/67251416@N08/albums/72157671593878900/
9. http://www.fluidr.com/photos/67251416@N08/sets/72157671593878900
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douvrend

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

27 May 1940

P3486

601 (County of London) Sqn RAF

1

Oostkerke, Diksmuide, West Flanders

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Sep-2019 22:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
17-Sep-2019 22:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Sep-2019 22:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
24-Sep-2019 12:06	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]