Spitfire R6891 19/11/1940 610Sqn.

Anon,

I have visited all the sites surrounding Eglingham, it is indeed admirable the work that you carried out.

Chris

Spitfire R6891 crash

Well, that seems to seal the issue with certainty; it was Ogilvy flying R6891 at the time of its demise.

I used the 610 ORB (or their historian supplied me with details from it) to state that Grey was killed in the crash after having baled out too low. Other sources either said just “bailed out” or, “pilot bailed out too low, killed”.

By their own admission, 610 sqn have always said that their ORB was incomplete and inaccurate, the pressures of the time precluding their keeping it up to date (their excuse). Apparently, quite a bit of it was said to have been completed later (especially the Battle of Britain bits) due to their exhaustive committment to the conflict in which they found themselves. This may go some way to explain why I have never even heard of an Ogilvy flying with 610. It seems that, according to Chris D’s post and link that officialdom hadn’t either.

Anon.

Thanks Jon H, I’m not really an expert – the real experts would soon find that out! I’m just an enthusiastic amateur. I did, however, gather together quite a bit of information regarding several other 610 Northumberland crash sites and the excavation of P9451 at Eglingham in 2000 was notable – both personally and historically.

Jon,

Thanks for that, but this information which was also used on another forum was inconclusive.

J. E. I. GREY (86368) was still alive in 1960 when he left the RAF.

CWGC have no Grey/Gray killed 19/11/1940….Neither does Northumberland county records of Birth, Deaths & Marriages

once again
Thank you

Chris

Not sure if this helps or confuses matters – copied here from another thread about 610 crashes around that time and posted by our local 610 sqaudron expert “Anon”

“It was R6891 being flown by JEI Grey who baled out too low and was killed (another instance of lost control), 19 Nov 1940.
The aircraft hit the ground at high speed in a fairly flat attitude so didn’t penetrate much but we found the pilot’s head armour, part of the gun sight, the front off the radio set, a wing tip and all sorts of other small parts.
This aircraft was a Battle of Britain veteran (with 610) and it was a very special aircraft due to the fact that it was flown by Sgt. Ronnie Fairfax “The Pied Piper” Hamlyn. It was in this aircraft that Hamlyn succeeded in shootong down 5 enemy aircraft in one day – a first for the RAF up to that time – and certainly for the squadron.
If you have, or can get, a copy of Peter Haining’s book The Spitfire Log, there is Hamlyn’s account of his action written by himself. I am led to believe that this was also broadcast on BBC radio during the BoB as a morale booster.”

Jon

Paul/Robert,
below is a link which is conclusive as to who the pilot was of R6891 DW-Q

P/O C A Ogilvy 610 Sqn 19/11/1940

http://www.bbm.org.uk/Ogilvy.htm

A positive result

Chris

Paul,
I think you are right P/O JEI Grey was the pilot.

Robert,
I like your idea of using the markings of R6891 DW-Q.

Thank you both

Chris

Chris

More and more I read of incident, the more I think JEI Grey was involved and was NOT Killed

Paul

That’s a bit spooky as just a minute ago I posted on Spitfireman’s thread mentioning R6891!! but not its cash.

Commercialism rearing its ugly head? 🙂

Mark

That’s a bit spooky as just a minute ago I posted on Spitfireman’s thread mentioning R6891!! but not its crash.