ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 229941
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| Date: | Friday 12 July 1940 |
| Time: | 15:45 |
| Type: |  Hawker Hurricane Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 501 (County of Gloucester) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | P3084 |
| MSN: | SD-N |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | English Channel, off Portland Bill, Dorset, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF ???? |
Hawker Hurriocane P3084/N: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat air patrol off Portland, Dorset. Pilot missing, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1104): "Hurricane P3084 crash landed in the English Channel, 12 July 1940. Pilot Officer D A Hewitt: report of death"
Crew:
P/O (76579) Duncan Alexander HEWITT (Can.Pilot) RAF - killed in action 12/07/1940, body not found/not recovered
According to a brief biography of the pilot:
"Duncan Alexander Hewitt was born in Toronto, Canada on 30th August 1919, his family were from Saint John, New Brunswick. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve about January 1938 as an Airman (under training) Pilot. Called up on 1st September 1939, he was commissioned in December and joined 501 Squadron in France in mid-May 1940.
He shared in the destruction of a He 111 on the 27th when 501 Squadron engaged aircraft of KG53 east of Forges-les-Eaux, France.
Back operating from the UK on 11th July 1940, Hewitt claimed to have shot down a Hurricane with German markings. He was lost the next day, in Hurricane P3084. With Flight Lt. E Holden he went after a Do 17 that was making a reconnaissance flight over Portland Bill. They found the enemy aircraft but kept losing it in bad visibility. A number of attacks were made on it at very low level, during one of which Hewitt flew into the sea.
In his combat report Squadron Leader H.A.V Hogan said that he believed that Hewitt’s aircraft was caught in the Dornier’s slipstream and forced downward into the sea. His body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 8."
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1104: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502837
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1800020/hewitt,-duncan-alexander/
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8710-P-O-Duncan-Alexander-Hewitt-(Battle-of-Britain)
5. https://battleofbritain1940.com/entry/friday-12-july-1940/
6. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/HewittDA.htm
7. https://www.hurricane501.co.uk/501-squadron-pilots-complete-list/kia-hewitt-duncan-alexander/
8. https://www.geni.com/projects/Battle-of-Britain/14852
9. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=297230817309487&story_fbid=556517918047441
10. http://dorset.hampshireairfields.co.uk/dorcrash.html
11. https://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/63129-the-battle-of-britain-weather-diary/page/2/
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 5 June 1940 | P3450 | 501 (County of Gloucester) Sqn RAF | 1 | near Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire |  |
w/o |
| 8 June 1940 | P3347 | 501 (County of Gloucester) Sqn RAF | 0 | near Abbeville, Somme Department, Hauts de France | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Oct-2019 00:34 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 27-Oct-2019 22:27 | Anon. | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Operator] |
| 12-Apr-2024 10:48 | Nepa | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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