Date:	Wednesday 19 June 1940
Time:	01:20
Type:	Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia
Owner/operator:	19 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L1032
MSN:	246
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Thurston House, Newmarket, Suffolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Taxi
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
L1032: Spitfire Ia (c/no. 246) First Flown 26-6-39. Issued to 19 Squadron 29-6-39. Hit by return fire from He 111 (reported as 5J+AM of 4/KG 4) and abandoned over Newmarket, Suffolk 19-6-40. Struck Off Charge as Cat.E 24-6-40. Total flying hours 195.

According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/938): "Spitfire L1032 lost in air operations, 19 June 1940. Flying Officer G W Petre: injured"

According to published reports: "Raiders were reported in the Mildenhall and Honington areas, a salvo exploding a mile from the latter airfield, and, at 01:20, AAA guns at RAF Wattisham opened fire while searchlights at Honington illuminated one Heinkel, whose gunner fired down the beams.

At about the same time Flg Off John Petre, flying Spitfire L1032 of 19 Squadron, located a bomber near Newmarket. This was 5J+AM of 4./KG4, which then turned and headed towards RAF Honington. Petre opened fire, seeing smoke issue from a damaged engine, but had to sheer off hard to one side to avoid colliding with another aircraft that appeared alongside – a Blenheim – also firing at the Heinkel. At that moment, searchlights illuminated Petre’s Spitfire, allowing the Heinkel’s gunners to return accurate fire. The Spitfire, hit in the fuel tank, burst into flames. Petre was able to bale out but his face and hands were badly burned. On landing he was rushed to hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Meanwhile, his burning Spitfire hit the roof of Thurston House before crashing in its garden."

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/938: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502570
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p002.html
4. No Place for Chivalry: RAF Night Fighters Defend the East of England Against the German Air Force In Two World Wars (Page 15) By Alastair Goodrum
5. First of the Few: 5 June-5 July 1940 By Brian Cull
6. Battle for the Channel: The First Month of the Battle of Britain 10 July-10 August 1940 By Brian Cull
7. https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2017/09/03/the-opening-round-of-the-battle-of-britain-i/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Aug-2008 11:30	Anon.	Added
25-Dec-2011 10:13	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
17-Jan-2012 04:15	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport]
04-Nov-2012 19:02	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Narrative]
19-Jul-2013 02:23	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
01-Aug-2013 20:39	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport]
23-Oct-2013 09:55	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Location]
02-Jun-2015 10:27	Coumes	Updated [Operator, Location]
29-Sep-2019 20:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
29-Sep-2019 20:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
02-Oct-2019 10:15	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]