ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 229982
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| Date: | Tuesday 16 July 1940 |
| Time: | 09:15 |
| Type: |  Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 |
| Owner/operator: | Luqa SF RAF |
| Registration: | P2623 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Marsaskala (Wied il-Ghajn) -
 Malta
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Luqa, Malta |
Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 P2623; RAF Luqa, Malta Station Flight: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations on 16 July 1940. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1125): "Hurricane P2623 crashed near Luqa, Malta, 16 July 1940. Flight Lieutenant P G Keeble: report of death".
Flight Lieutenant Peter Gardner Keeble had been in Malta before the war. He was attached to the Anti Aircraft Co-operation Unit (AACU) flying Fairey Swordfish. When Italy declared war on France and Great Britain, he was one of the pilots chosen to fly the first aerial defence of the Island during WW2, flying one of the Gloster Sea Gladiators that had been offloaded at Luqa, Malta from the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle. These three Sea Gladiators (N5519, N5520 and N5531) were later famously named "Faith" "Hope" and "Charity", and were, for a time the sole air defence of Malta.
With the arrival of the first Hawker Hurricanes, he alternated between flying Gladiators and Hurricanes. On 16th July 1940, he was shot down while flying Hurricane Mk I (P2623). Unfortunately he did not survive the crash. Flight Lieutenant Peter Keeble became the first pilot to die in the defence of Malta during WWII.
Flight Lieutenant Peter G. Keeble was flying a Hurricane, P2623, with Flight Lieutenant George Burges, in a Sea Gladiator, when they engaged Italian Cr 42s July 16, 1940. Keeble was shot down, and an Italian pilot, Benedetti crashed, and died later.
According to a Hungarian source, roughly translated into English (see link #7 for the original Hungarian text):
"Shortly after 09:00, a dozen CR.42s of 23rd Gruppo appeared over Malta on a reconnaissance mission. Flight Lieutenant Peter Gardner Keeble in a Hurricane Mk.I (P2623) and Flight Lieutenant George Burges in a Gladiator had been scrambled, and dived on this formation. Keeble attacking one CR.42, but being attacked himself by two more flown by Tenente Mario Pinna and Sottotenente Oscar Abello (both from 70th Squadriglia). After a long chase Keeble was hit and his aircraft dived out of control towards the south-east of the Island where it hit the ground near Wied il-Ghajn and blew up. It was immediately followed by a CR.42 flown by 24-year-old Tenente Mario Benedetti (MM4368) of the 74th Squadriglia, which crashed within 100 yards of the Hurricane.
Keeble was killed outright but Benedetti survived the initial impact of his crash, but died soon afterwards at the civilian hospital at Vincenzo Bugeja without regaining consciousness.
Burges made no claim on this occasion, and subsequently it was claimed that Benedetti’s aircraft was brought down with LMG fire by C Company headquarters, 1st Battalion The Dorsetshire Regiment. It is also possible Benedetti’s aircraft was the one attacked by Keeble. Sergente Maggiore Renzo Bocconi claimed a second Hurricane, but this was not allowed by the 2nd Squadra intelligence staff. Peter Keeble was the first of Malta's fighter pilots to lose his life in the defence of the island."
Crew of Hurricane P2623:
Flight Lieutenant Peter Gardner Keeble (Pilot) RAF 37186, killed in action 16/07/1940, buried at Malta (Capuccini) Cemetery, Malta
The reported crash location of Marsaskala (Maltese: Wied il-Għajn), sometimes spelt Marsascala (M'Scala), is a sea-side town in the South Eastern Region of Malta that has grown around the small harbour at the head of Marsaskala Bay, a long narrow inlet also known as Marsaskala Creek. The bay is sheltered to the north by Ras iż-Żonqor, the south-east corner of Malta, and to the south by the headland of Ras il-Gżira at approximate Coordinates: 35°51′45″N 14°34′3″E
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, p 15)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1125: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502937
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1704127/keeble,-peter-gardner/
4. https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/hope-faith-and-charity-the-gloster-sea-gladiator-mk3.325832/#post-9579666
5. https://www.facebook.com/maltaaviation/posts/the-latest-additions-at-the-museum-are-two-wonderful-cabinets-exhibiting-collect/1877632032357260/
6. https://www.wikiwand.com/hu/CR.42_Falco
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15219607/peter-gardner-keeble
8. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_bocconi.htm
9. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/malta.htm
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsaskala
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 16-Oct-2019 13:34 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 02-Nov-2019 17:34 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 05-Nov-2019 22:33 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 30-Apr-2023 12:43 | Anon. | Updated [[Operator, Operator]] |
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