Battle of Britain Hurricane.

thanx Gents

so it is not coming out in R2!

that is so silly!

regards

Tony

Sorry it’s off topic Kev

Tony,

I concurr with Hattons post re. BofB. I got the film from amazon after problems with Play.com for about $18. I went to dvdreviewer.co.uk and converted my Samsung Region 2 player to multiregion with no problem.

Edited for incorrect website address.

Regards,

tony, the Play.com website does sell the DVD in Region 1. If you have a DVD player (not a Playstation 2 or Computer Drive) then go to www.dvdreviewer.co.uk where you can get codes to unlock your player to play region 1. Perfectly legal too apparently 🙂

Tony.

Thanks. Nice to know I have something of interest. Knowing my luck it could have turned out to be something off a lorry. Thanks also for your efforts in trying to find its origins. It’s very much appreciated.

Regards,

kev35

Kev

this piece of armour is from the back armour (you have just under half of it!) and fits just below the head armour. It goes from the the base of the neck down to the small of the back (below that is what I call one’ bottom armour!!)

I am still looking into possible histories.

Tony

PS I still cannot find a decent place to get Battle of Britain film DVD from…..Amazon dont have it neither do Play.com……do WHS or Woolies?! I need help.

At last. One poor quality picture of my piece of armour plate. The damage can clearly be seen to the right. Thanks to anyone who’s trying to sort this out for me.

Regards,

kev35

Tony.

What I thought were lumps of corroded metal turned out to have been something possibly unspeakable, but fairly easily removed. I can now confirn that what I thought was L1D is indeed H LTD 1940. The other numbers are as previously mentioned. The front of the plate appears to have been burned.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

kev35

Dezz.

That’s great, thanks for your help, I’ll check that out.

Tony.

Sorry I can’t post a picture as I don’t have a digital camera. You think it’s looking genuine then? Those are the markings I can see. some are obscured by what looks to be little lumps of corroded metal. The position of the bullet strike would indicate it was a head on attack or return fire from a Bomber. Relatives can’t find the paperwork anywhere at all but are convinced it came from a BoB Hurricane whose pilot was killed.

I hope the information I have is helpful but if you want to know anything else just ask. It would be great to find out which aircraft it came from and the identity of the pilot.

Thanks for your help.

Kev35

Here we go…third time lucky I hope at getting the dreaded server to accept my post!

I shall trya nd check out BoB Then & Now for you Kev.

The armour markings you have sound good. The ‘C’ number tends to be a centre section (fuselage) starting part no. Armour was marked ‘H Ltd 1940) for Hawker Ltd and the date. If you send me a picture, I shall identify it further!

regards Tony

Kev this is about all i can come up with

02-09-40
Hurricane V7420 (Hawker built fourth production batch) complete aircraft recovered by the brenzett aeronautical museum in 1977

11-09-40
Hurricane P3770 (Hawker built third production batch) site excavated by the battle of Britain museum and remains of a shattered rolls Royce engine un earthed together with many fragments including the map storage box containing complete set of maps, pilots silk inner gloves and pocket handkerchief marked Clark in indelible pencil, site also investigated by historical aircraft group which collected many surface fragments

22-10-40
Hurricane R4074 (Gloster built second production batch) surface fragments from this aircraft recovered by the Kent battle of Britain museum

Sorry kev this is the best I can do,however seeing as parts of these aircraft seem to only be in two places a phone call to either the kent battle of britain museum 01303 893140, or brenzett museum 01233 627911 my help you out, I know it’s a long way from you but a visit to either of them is well worth it,

Dezz

www.kbobm.org

Dezz,

thanks for doing this, it’s very good of you. According to my relatives the pilot was killed so that would mean your references to numbers 726, 921 and 1316 are the most likely candidates.

Looking at it again last night I found some markings crudely stamped into the back of the plate. They are as follows:

ITEM 2

X26 AN

XK 38

Possibly C101970

Unintelligible L1D

1940

So, can anyone make any sense of these markings? My guess is that this would be an early hurricane and that the armour plate was retro fitted at the station. ITEM2 being the headrest leads me to think ITEM 1 would have been the plate that protected the pilots back. Does that make sense? Other than the date I haven’t a clue what the other markings indicate.

As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

kev35

Hi kev
I have had a further look in my book and expanded the search to the surrounding area sort of 5 miles in-land where you have Ivychurch and newchurch I also checked for Romney marsh, as all these places border it , and a bit further a’field you have, of course, eastchurch. I came up with a few more possibilities, could one of these be your Hurricane ?

877. Hurricane I, P3025 111 Newchurch, nr boundary with Burmarsh. In combat over the Channel was severely damaged. Sgt T. Wallace was slightly wounded

921. Hurricane 1, P3770 504 Newchurch, S of Brookland. Shot up over the Kent coast and burned after the crash. P/o A. Clarke missing. A subsequent dig on the site showed no sign of the body, but a handkerchief marked ‘Clarke’ was found. Based Hendon. Cat 3

1316. Hurricane 1, R4074 46 Newchurch Church, Shot up over Dungeness by Lw fighters. Sgt I. Morrison killed. Based Stapleford Tawney. Cat 3

726. Hurricane I, V7420 43 Ivychurch – Fryland, ’12 mile south of Church. Set alight in combat with Me109’s over W. Kent and attempted a force landing. P/O Woods-Scawen baled out too late and was killed. He is buried in Folkestone Cemetery, Plot O Grave 25. Based Tangmere. Cat 3

1364. Hurricane 1, V6785 615 Romney Marsh. Shot up by Me109’s and a 20mm cannon shell exploded in the cockpit. P/O E.R. Edmunds seriously wounded. Based Northolt. Cat 2

855. Hurricane ” P3021 504 Eastchurch. Force landed with a cannon shell through the canopy and the fuel tank after an engagement over the Estuary. Sgt B.M Bush unhurt(!). Based Hendon. Cat 2

1084. Hurricane I, P2960 257 Eastchurch, Groves Fm. Shot up by Me109’s over Thames Estuary whilst on patrol. Sgt D. Aslin baled out badly burnt and was hospitalized. Sgt Aslin not listed in Form 541. Also reported at Godmersham. Based Debden. Cat 3

if you think one of them may be let me know and I will look further for you, I am no authority on the subject but I do have a few more books and stuff I can look through, to see if the armor plate for the aircraft is in a museum somewhere, which will rule the one you have out
hope this helps
Dezz

Thanks Dezz.

Doesn’t seem to be the one. The pilot was unhurt and I don’t think that likely from the damage to the armour plate. Does anyone know of a town that sounds lihe Dymchurch?

Clutching at straws here.

Regards,

kev35

Hi Kev
I have had a look through my “aircraft casualties in Kent 1939-1940” book (isbn 0948193506) this contains some 1400 incidents, I have looked up Dymchurch and there are not many listings… surprisingly…the only Hurricane listed that didn’t crash in the sea is the one below, I don’t think its going to be much help but here you go.

Ashley,

thanks very much. I will check those out and see what comes up. I didn’t get your email by the way so perhaps you could try again?

Regards,

kev35

Oops…second link is wonky…try again:

http://www.kentonline.co.uk

Ashley

Hello Kev 🙂

Off the top of my head…http://www.the-battle-of-britain.co.uk/Menus/men.htm It may take some time to go through but it lists the men of the Battle of Britain, their aircraft, their squadron and what happened to them…you might find a clue if not the answer here.

The local newspaper was/is the Kent Messenger which can be found here: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/…the University of Kent at Canterbury also holds copies of the Kent Messenger (and a certain Museum where a certain Spitfire polisher works also holds copies, along with mountains of other Battle of Britain info of course :))

Hope this is of a little use to you
Ashley

P.S. I sent you an email last week which it doesn’t look like you received…poxy Museum server was playing up again 🙁