Stolen Hurricane flies into history books

Hi,

Flushing had an airfield in those days (with Me109s). But Flushing was, and is, not in Belgium but in The Netherlands.

Regards,

Benno

Thanks Alex

Stolen Hurricane PA-A

Hi,

The serial number was W9147 and there are photos of her in the LEMB website IIRC there was also a discussion on the 12 O;Clok High site also but a while ago.

Interestinly the photos show that the aircraft had dammaged propeller blades. So not a normal landing .

And yes there was other aircraft stolen and as said one was by a disgruntled Groundcrewman. another was by escaped German POW’s but it ran out of fuel and came down for them to be recaptured.

Alex

I want to add the story behind this to our ‘Historic Events in North East aviation’ section of the NEAM website (www.neam.org.uk). I’m short of a few details…..

The Hurricane was coded A-PA, but does anyone know the serial? (I don’t have a copy of the story published in the June 2003 edtion of AM)

The aircraft was destoryed by allied bombing. Does anyone know the exact date?

Thanks in advance
Dave

I seem to recall that there was Czech book about Preucil which roughly translated was “The Stolen Hurricane” It appears his orders from the Gestapo were to steal a Hurricane fitted with Cannon so that they could test the effectiveness of said weapon.

Obviously at an OTU this would have not been possible, so prehaps he went with the best he could get

“From memory I believe he ‘defected’ for want of a better word from Usworth (Sunderland) in a fairly unimportant Hurricane I by that stage in the war.”
The Hurri which Preucil nicked was actually an early Mk.II. The new CO of the OTU had only recently arrived from a frontline squadron which had been re equipped with the new version,and had brought his personal Hurricane with him.It seems that Preucil defected when he did because it was one of the few oppertunites when he would’ve managed to get his hands on the CO’s aircraft.You can see the CO’s pennant under the cockpit on the original phot in Aeropl*ne.It seems quite possible that Preucil had direct orders to steal this Hurricane at the first oppertunity.

Augustin Preucil, a Czech pilot, changed sides and eventually became an agent of the Gestapo. He successfully joined the RAFVR (Volunteer Reserve) in 1940, ending up with 55 OTU flying Hurricanes. On September 18 1941 he successfully ‘stole’ a Hurricane and flew it to Flushing in Belgium. The Hurricane ended up at the Museum for Transport & Technology in Berlin.

It seems that when he disappeared with the Hurricane it was assumed that he was ‘missing in action’. No one initially suspected his true intentions. Preucil appears to have been a nasty piece of work through and through, and thought nothing of having his countrymen shot and tortured. He was hanged in 1947.

Steve

From memory I believe he ‘defected’ for want of a better word from Usworth (Sunderland) in a fairly unimportant Hurricane I by that stage in the war.

Where did this guy fly from? How often did this happen in WWII, Allies defecting to Axis?

Before he died, my grandad said that he saw a mechanic steal (he could’nt remember what type) an aircraft from Thrapston airfield and claims that they were all told that he had crashed in the sea?

Could this be one in the same case? If not, does anyone know anything about this?

Any information would be appreciated.

Paul.

There is an article on this character in the latest Aero*****
mmitch.