Pilot Officer ‘Sandy’ Ballantine and his gunner Sergeant McTaggart engage a Heinkel 111 over North Lincolnshire on the afternoon of 7th March 1941. Ballantine was airborne in Defiant N3333 YD-B of 255 Squadron performing an air test when he came across the Heinkel in layers of cloud. Less than two months later both men were forced to bale out of this aircraft when it was shot down in combat over Nocton in Lincolnshire.

4 May 1941 255sqn at Nocton Fen

This aircraft was destroyed whilst on a patrol sortie east of Lincoln. The engine exploded at around 4000 feet in flight, forcing the crew to bale out. The aircraft was wrecked when it dived into the ground near Glebe Farm, pilot P/O Arthur Alexander “Sandy” Ballantine 85650 and gunner Sgt Chrys H G McTaggart 902423 were uninjured apart from minor bruising.