ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 91447
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| Date: | Friday 27 November 1942 |
| Time: | 09:17 |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Vb |
| Owner/operator: | 72 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 8 km East of Béja, Béja Governorate -
 Tunisia
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Shot down 27 November 1942 by German Luftwaffe fighter ace Anton "Toni" Hafner. According to some sources, this was his first victory in air-to-air-combat against an RAF aircraft. (He had previously shot down a Soviet MiG-1 over the Eastern Front on 12 August 1941)
The exact Spitfire has not yet been identified, but it was an aircraft 72 Squadron, RAF, and the pilot was Flying Officer John Lowe (Service Number: 119309, aged 21). He was killed, and was interred in Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery Tunisia (Plot 11. E. 16). The appropriate page from the Squadron's record book (see link #4) is missing, so that the serial number of the Spitfire involved is missing too. All that is known is that "Pilot Officer Lowe failed to return from sweep in the Djedeida, Tunis area".
On November 16, 1942, a German military delegation came to Béja to give Mayor Jean Hugon a 24-hour ultimatum to surrender the city. In response to the ultimatum the Mayor informed civil governor, Clement, who in turn sent the message to Algiers. The next day, November 17, the first British parachute battalion landed on the hills north of the city. On Thursday November 19 German planes bombed the town for the first time, as a warning. This broke the long period of peace Béja had known for many centuries. The next day, Friday November 20, Béja was heavily bombed by German airplanes for many hours, because of its key position leading to the roads of Tabarka, Mateur, Bizerte and Algeria. The town became the stage for ferocious battles between the Germans and the Allies who fiercely defended it, at the expense of severe military and civil losses. The final German assault Operation Ochsenkopf – was launched from Mateur and was halted 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Béja, on the night of February 28, 1943, by British troops.
Sources:
1. http://www.luftwaffe.cz/hafner.html
2. https://www.aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase/?q=Adelh%C3%BCtte%2C+Hans+
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2621157/john-lowe/
4. 72 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book) (Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for July 1917 to 31 December 1942:
National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/624 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2503261#imageViewerLink
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9ja#World_War_II
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._72_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisian_campaign
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?25385-1942-Unaccounted-Airmen-Database-Reconciliation/page16&highlight=LOWE&p=147745#post147745
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 01-Jul-2021 22:26 | JF | Updated [Total occupants, Location, Country, Source] |
| 18-Nov-2022 22:58 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 18-Nov-2022 22:59 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 18-Nov-2022 23:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 18-Nov-2022 23:15 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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