Date:	Saturday 24 August 1940
Time:	12:40
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I
Owner/operator:	264 (Madras Presidency) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L6966
MSN:	17
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	English Channel, off Ramsgate, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Defiant L6966/'PS-Z': Written off (destroyed) in combat operations 24/08/1940.
According to the official file at the National Archives at Kew (File AIR 81/2765 - see link #3): "Pilot Officer J T Jones, Pilot Officer W A Ponting: missing believed killed; presumed shot down, enemy action, Defiant L6966, 264 Squadron, 24 August 1940"

The early part of the Saturday morning of 24 Augusut 1940 was cloudless and fine and the controllers in 11 Group watched anxiously for the inevitable signs of a built-up over France. At 09.00 hours a big raid began to boil up around Cap Gris Nez and some 100 fighters and bombers of Fliegerkorps II advanced on Dover, stepped-up from 12,000 to 24,000 feet. Two formations broke away from the mass in mid-Channel and attacked Dover itself from the north. Eleven fighter squadrons were dispatched and the raid broke up at about 11.00 hours.

An hour and a half later a series of feints developed, from which one raid was detached to attack Manston, as No. 264 Squadron’s defensive patrol for the airfield landed. The nine Defiants took off before the first bombs were dropped, and were then joined by a Hurricane squadron. The force was driven off with a loss of five bombers and two fighters but not before extensive damage had been done.

Following a combat with Ju.88's and Me.109's over the Channel off Ramsgate on 24th August 1940, P/O Ponting and his pilot, P/O Jones, were reported 'Missing'. Their Defiant, L6966, is believed to have been shot down into the sea by Major G Lützow, Kommander of JG3 at around 12.40 hrs local time.
Crew of Defiant L6966:
P/O (78855) Joseph Trevor JONES (pilot) RAF - Killed.
P/O (79217) William Alan PONTING (AG) RAF - Killed.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000 to N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1993)
2. The Boulton Paul Defiant: Day and Night Fighter By Phil H. Listemann
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/2765: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16472128
4. 264 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/10/1939 to 31/8/1945: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/1553 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2504195
5. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1802333/joseph-trevor-jones/
6. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1804493/william-alan-ponting/
7. https://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Ponting.htm
8. https://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/JonesJT.htm
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._264_Squadron_RAF#World_War_II
10. https://www.aviationartprints.com/airframe_data.php?FrameID=23660
11. https://battleofbritain1940.com/entry/saturday-24-august-1940/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsgate

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jul-2022 14:52	Dr. John Smith	Added
03-Jul-2022 07:54	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]