Crash August 1940

[Mike N.]

A series of wartime letters is being edited for eventual publication. The writer of a letter dated 3rd September 1940 was part of an exercise with the 4th Army Corp. He wrote:
' at 4 o'clock in the afternoon we moved again, through Hitchin and Letchworth (which seemed very near London) and finally bivouaced at midnight. The following morning, before moving off again, we had a little excitement in the way of an air raid. A lot of German planes were overhead, very high but quite clear, and we saw the fighters take off from various aerodromes roundabout. All of a sudden there was a roaring of engines, and we all dived into a trench thinking that we were being dive-bombed, but a Spitfire flashed past us almost vertically and burst into flames as it hit the ground. Apparently the pilot had been shot in the leg after shooting down a Junker82, and had decided that he was too weak to land the plane. He baled out at 9,000 feet, leaving the plane to its own devices, but he had to have his leg amputated when he got down.'
We would like to pay tribute to the pilot by naming him and would be grateful for any advice or direction to locate the details.

 

[fubar57]

Details for Sept. 2-3 1940...September 2nd - September 3rd 1940
EDIT: The date of the letter probably doesn't reflect the date of the incident. I went back as far as Aug 25 1940 but may have missed something. Here is the entire site
List of Website Contents

 

[stona]

I searched for Spitfires in the few days prior to the letter date, which came down somewhere near Letchworth, as we don't really know where this unit was bivouaced..

The best candidate is X4231 which was shot down shortly after 8.30am on the morning of 31st August. The aircraft was abandoned by Flying Officer J B Coward who was badly wounded in the legs. The aircraft came down, in flames, between Little Shelford and Newton. Coward's wound was noted as 'severe' and he subsequently had his left leg amputated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. This must make him a prime candidate as the pilot mentioned in the letter.

The Spitfire was from No 19 Squadron, based at Duxford and according to the squadron had engaged a formation of Do 17s, but the fact that the bombers are misidentified in either the letter or squadron records is not significant.

Coward was lucky, he was first found by a young man who threatened him with a pichfork. Coward sent the lad to get help and the first car he flagged down was carrying an Army Medical Officer who was able to render first aid until an ambulance arrived. Coward became a fire watcher on Churchill's staff at Chartwell and Chequers before returning to flying in 1942 as an instructor.
He was just 25 when he was shot down and lost his leg.

Information comes from 'The Battle of Britain - Then and Now' which includes probably the most comprehensive lists of losses on both sides and is where I first found the likely candidate, and also from Simon Parry's 'Battle of Britain Combat Archive (Vol 8)'.

Hope this helps

Steve

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent work Steve. Sounds like our man.

 

[Mike N.]

Thank you for the rapid responses. Very helpful.

 

[Airframes]

Great stuff Steve - I'd just started to look through BoB Then and Now, and I'm awaiting delivery of Vol 8 of the Combat Archive.
One small point, it's more than likely that 19 Sqn were at Duxford's satellite station at Fowlmere at the time, just up the road,

 

[stona]

Possibly.
He landed in a stubble field, near Duxford, where the roundabout where the London to Cambridge road crossed the Newmarket to Royston road. The M11 wasn't there in 1940, so I reckon that was somewhere near here:

 

[Oilit77]

I had the pleasure of meeting Commander PB in 1999 at the ferry terminal in Portsmouth and we spent the best part of the day chatting about his exploits in Normandy and the Far East fighting for the Allied cause as we sailed to Cherbourg for the 1999 D-Day ceremonies in France. We remained in touch until his passing away and It was a pleasure to have met him and become close acquaintances.