History[]
First flown on 8 February, it was sent to 24MU on 29 February. Assigned to 212 Squadron on 7 April, and coded '9', it was presumed lost over Dunkirk, and struck off charge in June.[1] Believed to have been piloted by F/Lt ‘Tug’ Wilson, the aircraft suffered a glycol leak following take-off from Meaux near Paris on 7 June 1940, for a mission to photograph the railway line at Maastricht-Liege. After it forced landed, the French were asked to destroy it but failed to do so.[2]
It was later found to have been captured intact by the German Army.[1] A photograph of this aircraft, being examined by German troops at Rheims-Champane, appears in the April 2024 edition of Fly Past Magazine.[3]
Sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 All Spitfires website entry
- ↑ RAF Command forum
- ↑ Fly Past April 2024 page 53