ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 53955
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| Date: | Friday 17 May 1940 |
| Time: | 15:56 LT |
| Type: |  Curtiss Hawk 75A |
| Owner/operator: | GC I/4 - Armée de l'Air |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Westerschelde estuary off Hoofdplaat, Zeeland -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Duinkerken-Mardyck, France (base) |
The aircraft was hit in aerial combat with Bf 109E aircraft of the I./JG 20 from Eindhoven airfield.
The French pilot, 1e Lt. J. Hirschauer, threw the Curtiss on his back and bailed out over the Westerschelde. Near Hoofdplaat he landed on a sandbank in the river.
At another sandbank - about 150 metres away - he saw a small boat. He got rid of some of his clothes and swam to it.
Unfortunately the boat turned out to be leaking and full of water. Only now he felt the pain of the burns in his face and on his hands and the bank is far away!
The tide came up and the sandbank became smaller and smaller. He tried on another sandbank. At that moment a motorboat showed up. The Dutch crew picked him up, took care of him and transferred him to the French at Vlissingen.
Just in time he managed to escape, after which he was hospitalized in Brugge, Belgium. After the armistice he managed to escape to the unoccupied part of France. In attempts to save Hirschauer, Lieutenant J.H.L. Maury of the 271ème Régiment d’Infanterie drowned, parts of which had taken positions at Hoofdplaat.
Sources:
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T0701&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
Google Maps
Wings to Victory Database
'Vliegvelden in Oorlogstijd' page 264
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 25-Mar-2020 15:15 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
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