Crashed Spitfire lying off Brighton Sussex

No idea to be honest , i guess that was JRoberts570 ? 

You did indeed Trumper – I read it n my phone, checked here then went back to reply and its totally disappeared. I’m at a loss to be honest. Glad you saw this so I could thank you belatedly!

Says I’ve been here 20 years now. Damn.  I remember being on all night every night, refreshing the page etc at times. Now I probably only look in once a month average I guess. So, this Spitfire, what’s the link with the Stork?

Hi Mark , i sent you a message via Facebook but not via this forum ,Cheers 🙂 

Hi, Yeah, still here. Dunno how to message you n the new look super duper much improved forum though.

Thanks also to the chap who messaged me – your message disappeared somehow from messenger so I can’t reply to think you!

Billy, 110 degrees Shoreham 2 miles, 21:35 your grandad was picked up by shore boat H.M.S king Alfred, this is of course if your grandad was downed 23rd June 1941 

Snapper, you still on this forum. If so drop me a message 

For Billyboy…

According to my records your father swam ashore at King Alfred Naval Station, Hove, (now the King Alfred Centre) about half an hour after coming down in the sea and was taken to Hove General Hospital suffering from shock, minor injuries and exposure.

Hi, he told me that he was picked up by the local lifeboat, whether he started swimming in and they came out to meet him I’m not sure, but he definitely said he was picked up in a boat? He also said that he went out between the piers so I would assume that the Spit went out for a while before ditching in the sea, but I’m not sure about how a plane would behave when ‘set to glide’? – As to whether it could have veered from the direction it was travelling when he baled out?

Would you be able to send me a copy of the photo you posted? It would be great to have a copy of it.

Hi,
Joined the forum here as I wanted to shed a bit of light on a subject that I saw discussed.
There is a Spitfire lying just of the coast of Brighton (Sussex) it was piloted by Pilot Officer D W Beedham (my father) all records I have seen say that he baled out over the sea due to ‘running out of petrol’ however, his version of events were that there was a terminal problem with the fuel supply/fuel pump and he couldn’t get the engine to re-start after it stalled, he made the decision to “dump the damn thing” because he didn’t want to risk it coming down on the town of Brighton and so in his words he “set it to glide” as he went out between the two piers and baled out as he passed the end of them. He was brought in to the beach by the local life boat and spent the night at the hospital in Brighton before returning to Tangmere and 616 Squadron.
I will try to find the serial number of the plane but I do know it was during Circus 19 and from memory I think it was a mark 2 (?).
Anyway, don’t know if this is of interest to anyone? But I thought I’d post it to see. 🙂

Hello billyboy,

As soon as saw your father was ex-616 Sqn, I was very interested.:)

I’d love to hear more about his exploits, Please look in your P.M.’s

For Billyboy…

According to my records your father swam ashore at King Alfred Naval Station, Hove, (now the King Alfred Centre) about half an hour after coming down in the sea and was taken to Hove General Hospital suffering from shock, minor injuries and exposure.

The only Fw190 that I have definite information about “off Brighton” was the 10./JG54 machine of Uffz Joachim Koch shot down by Spitfires of 610 Squadron on 29 March 1943 about 500yds off Blackrock, Brighton. Koch was killed in the crash and his body washed ashore and buried in Bear Road Cemetery, Brighton, where his date of death is incorrectly recorded as 25 April 1943. A machine gun presumed to have originated from this aircraft was trawled up some years ago in very good condition and later destroyed by Sussex Police.

I suspect this is the aircraft to which you refer, but I also suspect it is not complete and certainly not with its pilot.

Sort a boat out and my fuel south and I’m happy to go a-hunting. Needles and haystacks are made a bit easier with a side-imaging sonar 😉 My time is free, I do like a nice day out!

Does that 190 noes cowl in the shoreham museum come from the 190 by the peir then?

Yes, I have all the details of a Fw190 off Blackrock. I will see what I can find, but without a date its a needle -in-a-haystack job!

I hear that there is an FW190 complete with pilot 50 yards off Brighton Pier.

I suspect there will only be a Merlin and a few bits of structure, at best.

Spitfires that have been ‘dumped’ by a baling-out pilot tend to break up badly on hitting the water, anyhow. The other problem is that there are certainly a few Spitfires in that immediate sea area. Identifying which one is which, in terms of surviving wrteckage, is often something of a problem – if not an impossibilty.

Brighton Spitfire

Hi,
As far as I know, there was talk of finding it in the late 70’s or early 80’s but I don’t think this came to much, so I guess what’s left of it is still there?
I don’t think, after all this time there can be much left of it though?
It would be nice to any of it that’s left though!

Hello, quick question is the aircraft still out there?

Yes, of great interest!

I am currently working on a book covering RAF Fighter Command’s battles over France during 1941 with my colleagues Norman Franks and Chris Goss.

I think you are talking about the incident on 23 June 1941 when your father baled out of P7435. I have the location as being off Southwick Power Station.

Maybe you would get in touch using the e-mail address through the ‘andysaunders’ link below?

Meanwhile, here is a portrait photo of your father from our 1941 archive: