Date:	Friday 12 July 1940
Time:	09:45
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Owner/operator:	151 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P3275
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Ordfordness, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath

Narrative:
Hurricane P3275 (151 Sqn): Written off (destroyed) when failed to return from a patrol. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1099): "Hurricane P3275 crashed at sea due to enemy action, 12 July 1940. Flying Officer J H L Allen: missing presumed dead"

Airborne from RAF Martlesham Heath, Suffolk for a combat air patrol and convoy escort over the southern North Sea off the coast of Suffolk. At 08:00 hours a large formation comprising He 111s from III/KG 53 and Do 17s from II/KG 2 was detected heading towards the convoy codenamed BOOTY off the Suffolk coast. Six Hurricanes of No.17 Squadron from Martlesham Heath were up and en-route to patrol over the convoy when notified of the incoming raid. They were reinforced by seventeen Hurricanes from Nos. 85, 242, and 151 Squadrons and six Defiants from No. 264 Squadron. In the ensuing combat, five bombers were shot down.

Two Hurricanes were also lost to return fire. One of them was Hurricane P3275, of 151 Squadron, which was lost at sea, with Flying Officer J.H.L. Allen missing, believed drowned. Hurricane P3275 was hit in the engine by gunfire from a Dornier Do.17 of II/KG 2 off Orfordness, Suffolk.

F/O (39957) John Henry Leslie ALLEN (New Zealand pilot) RAF - missing, presumed killed.
R.I.P.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1099: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502832
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1082699/allen,-james-henry-leslie/
4. https://battleofbritain1940.com/entry/friday-12-july-1940/
5. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/AllenJHL.htm
6. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=297230817309487&story_fbid=556517918047441
7. https://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/63129-the-battle-of-britain-weather-diary/page/2/
8. http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C17192
9. Men of The Battle of Britain: A Biographical Dictionary of The Few By Kenneth G. Wynn

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Oct-2019 20:06	Dr. John Smith	Added
15-Oct-2019 07:30	juza7	Updated [Operator]
08-Sep-2020 08:42	soucek56	Updated [Location, Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]
03-Dec-2023 03:53	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Narrative]