Date:	Thursday 16 May 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	3 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2825
MSN:	QO-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Hamm-Mille, Bevekom, Walloon Brabant -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Merville, Lille, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P2825 (QO-A) of 3 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from a combat air patrol over the French/Belgian border. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/476): "Hurricane P2825 shot down over Hamme-Mille, Belgium, 16 May 1940. Squadron Leader P Gifford - report of death".

Reportedly Shot down by a Messerschmidt Bf 110 from ZG.1, Luftwaffe. Crashed near Hamme-Mille, a town in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant and a part of Bevekom, at approximate co ordinates 50°47′ N, 4°43′ E.

Crew of Hurricane P2825:
Squadron Leader Patrick Gifford, RAF (AAF) 90188, aged 30, DFC, posted 16/05/1940, as missing believed killed. No trace of his aircraft or the pilot was found, hence he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. However, after the war, RAF authorities received his log book with a letter from a German who said he had taken it from the wreckage of a Hurricane and asked that it be returned to Gifford's family.

On 16 May 2010, on the 70th anniversary of his death, a granite memorial with a brass plaque was unveiled in the grounds of Castle Douglas Public Library, Market Street, Castle Douglas, Dumfries And Galloway. The unveiling ceremony was attended by The Lord Douglas of Selkirk QC, Honorary Air Commodore 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron - Squadron Leader Gifford had served from 1932 to 1939 with 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/476: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502178
3. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1270795/gifford,-patrick/
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/3_squadron.html#1605
6. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/the-lawyer-who-shot-down-bombers.17747/
7. https://www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/first-of-the-few-is-honoured-70-years-on-1-804253
8. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/wwii-hero-has-his-day-2603291
9. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/253882
10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/8306768.stm
11. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamme-Mille

Memorial to Squadron Leader Patrick Gifford unveiled in the grounds of Castle Douglas Public Library 16 May 2010: Squadron Leader Patrick Gifford DFC- Plaque © Paul Goodwin (WMR-69507)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
30-Jul-2019 22:08	Dr. John Smith	Added
31-Jul-2019 08:14	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]