Date:	Wednesday 15 May 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Owner/operator:	3 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N2422
MSN:	QO-B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Dinant, Namur -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Mervile, France
Destination airport:	Merville, France

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I N2422 (QO-B) 3 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations 15 May 1940. Reportedly shot down by a Messerschmidt Bf 110 of II/ZG 76 at Dinant, Belgium. Pilot survived, bailed out and was captured. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 18/373): "Pilot Officer N D Hallifax, prisoner of war. Hurricane N2422 crashed in the vicinity of Dinant, Belgium, 15 May 1940". (However, other unofficial published sources give the crash site as "near Zeebrugge"; the two are some 235 km apart)

Crew of Hurricane N2422:
Pilot Officer Noel D. Hallifax RAF 33404, aged 21; survived, bailed out, captured, and taken as PoW

Noel D. Hallifax underwent officer training at Cranwell and was granted a permanent commission in the RAF with the rank of Pilot Officer on 17th December 1938. In the early months of the War he was a pilot serving with 3 Squadron but during the Battle of France, whilst undertaking a patrol aboard Hurricane N2422 on 15th May 1940 he was shot down after combat with an Bf-110 near Zeebrugge; he survived the incident, but was captured and became a prisoner of war.

During the attack he appears to have received burn injuries to his hands, legs and face. While a PoW he was treated by the German medics in Frankfurt and later at a hospital at Halle Saale. While a PoW he was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer (war subs) on 17th June 1940 and rose to Flight Lt exactly a year later. Although little of his early years as a PoW are known, he must have been a handful for his guards as he was sent to the infamous Colditz Castle, well known as a place where persistent escapees were held.

He arrived at Colditz on 14th November 1942 but left there on 7th January 1945 and was repatriated by 16th February 1945 because of his injuries. On arrival back in the UK he was admitted to East Grinstead Hospital on 16th February 1945 to treat the injuries. Post-WW2 he continued his RAF service. He rose to Squadron Leader on 1st October 1946 (Gazetted 1st November 1946) having being made a Temporary Squadron Leader on the 1st July 1943 while he was a PoW. His name while at Colditz was recorded as the more common variant of his name as "Halifax" (with one "l")

He was killed on 8th November 1946 as one of the two crew of DH Mosquito NT266 of 54 OTU, RAF Leeming, which was destroyed in a crash at Birk Nab Farm, Pockley Moor, north of Hemlsey, North Yorkshire

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p 13)
2. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008 p 22
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/373: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502260
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/3_squadron.html#1505
5. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/46-50/nt266.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinant

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jul-2019 13:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
15-Jul-2019 13:42	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Jul-2019 09:38	DG303	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
06-Nov-2022 01:30	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]