ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 150617
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| Date: | Thursday 24 September 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk IIa 'Lahore' |
| Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | P7319 |
| MSN: | 555 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Near RAF Athan, Glamorganshire, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
The Spitfire's engine caught fire in flight.
The pilot baled out but his parachute failed to deploy fully and he was killed.
Sgt (NZ39780) Nelson Cremer TURNER RNZAF - killed
R.I.P.
Details:
Number 555 of the production line and the third presentation machine, the other preceding two being N3164 ‘East India’ and P7293 ‘Mandot’. All three were paid with funds raised from the British governed countries of India and Punjab (pre 1947 independence). Lahore was annexed into the British Empire and made the capital of British Punjab.
P7319 was sent to No.12 MU on the 9th of August 1940 then issued to 421 flight on the 3rd of November 1940. 421 Flight was formed on the 8th of October 1940, originally from a detached flight from 66 squadron at Gravesend. The flight was originally equipped with 6 Spitfire II’s. Unusually towards the end of that month they were re-equipped with the Hurricane MKII, leaving one Spitfire! But on the 3rd of November they received 10 Spitfires, one of which was P7319, her radio code being ‘L-Z – T’. Eight days later, on the 11th she suffered category ‘3’ damage on Ops’ after a heavy landing by the hands of F/O Baker. She was sent off to Scottish Aviation for repair.
Her next squadron was 152, arriving on the 22nd of April 1941. Her first patrol took place on the 25th, flown by P/O Marr, who flew her regulary. On the 14th of May, P/O Marr and his wingman P/O Humphrys were on a routine patrol when off the Lizard, 50 miles from Plymouth encountered a lone Ju-88. No claim was made. On the 9th of June, P/O Humphrys was tasked with three other pilots on a convoy patrol off Falmouth. P/O Marr along with Sgt White were the alert pair. The weather in the morning proved to be favourable but towards the late morning it all changed, with thick cloud forming and creating thick patches at ground level, the sudden change caught the squadron totally off guard and by 11:00 the station was shrouded by impenetrable fog. The convoy patrol saw the first two land at 10:50hrs, P/O Humphrys and his wingman Sgt Rudd landed into the thick soup at 11:00hrs, Humphrys was taken totally by surprise he stopped on the runway and stalled the motor. At the same time, the Alert pair were ordered to Scramble ‘X’ Raid over base! They taxied onto the runway unaware there was another Spitfire on it, Marr powered up, Humphrys was unable to alert them, and they collided, luckily without any injury or serious damage to either aircraft! Here ended P7319 time with 152 squadron. P7319 was once again sent off for repair, this time to Westlands at Weston-Super-Mare, arriving there by road on the 15th of June.
Her next squadron was to be No.130 Sqn’, arriving on the 27th of August 1941 at Portraeth. Here she stayed unused until the 28th of September when three new pilots to the squadron took her up one at a time on familiarisation practice flights, her first operational patrol took place on the 29th, flown by P/O Newman as part of Red Section on an intercept of an unidentified aircraft, this proved to be friendly.
Her frontline duties were finally over when superseded by the newer mark fives and finally came to 53 OTU on the 6th of May 1942. On the 24th of September she was being flown by a Kiwi pilot, Sgt Turner when above the village of St Athan, the engine burst into flames, still two miles distant of Llandow and with the severity of the fire, Sgt Turner successfully bailed out, leaving the doomed Spitfire to crash into a large field just outside the perimeter of the RAF station and boundary of the village. As for Sgt Turner, his parachute failed to deploy, and he came to earth just south of the village centre and was killed instantly!
Pilot:
Sgt Nelson Cremer Turner 24yo 39789 RNZAF. Pilot. Killed.
Son of Edgar & Mildred Adelaide Turner of Devonport, Auckland New Zealand.
Buried:
Llantwit Major Cemetery. Section C. Grave 31.
Wreckage:
All removed.
Memorials:
CWGC headstone.
Cenotaph online, Auckland war memorial museum.
Additional Information:
The first presentation Spitfire was N3164 ‘East India’. The following was P7293 ‘Mandot’ from funds donated by the wealthy Indian Mandot family of Bangalore, sadly she collided into Spitfire P7826 during formation flying training on the 16th of November 1943. Both aircraft crashed killing their pilots. P7293 spun into the ground at Scotton Common. P7826 & ‘Mandot’ were both with 53OTU based at their new station. 53 OTU was formed at RAF Heston in February 1941 to train pilots on the Spitfire. In July 1941 it moved to RAF Llandow and in May 1943 to RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Had a German invasion of England taken place, 53 OTU RAF would have become No's 553 and 554 Squadron, operating from RAF Church Fenton. When WW2 ended in Europe, 53 OTU was disbanded at Kirton-in-Lindsey on 15 May 1945.
In late September 1940, Air Chief Marshal Dowding was faced with two problems. The first was a change in Luftwaffe tactics. Until then the main daylight striking force had been the German bombers, heavily escorted by fighters. The chief aim had been to wear down the RAF fighters, but instead he saw an unacceptable level of his bombers lost. Whilst fighter-bombers, known to the Luftwaffe as Jabos, had been tried by Luftwaffe units such as Erprobungsgruppe 210 during the Battle of Britain, these had mainly been small and low-altitude efforts. Now the bombers switched mainly to night attacks, and the day operations more often consisted of high-flying Bf-109 sweeps and large numbers of Bf 109 Jabos with escorts. This was intended both to force the RAF fighters to engage the Luftwaffe fighters and keep the pressure on the RAF. The Jabos could always jettison their bombs and revert to being fighters if intercepted. The Jabos were not much of a tactical threat in that - apart from specialists like Erpro. 210 - they were highly inaccurate when dropping their bombs, but against area targets such as London they could still cause significant damage and civilian deaths. It was impossible for the Fighter Command Controllers to identify which incoming raids were fighter sweeps (which posed no threat and were to be avoided), which were the escorted Jabo raids, and which were escorted bombers, the last two requiring different tactics to minimise RAF losses and maximise those of the Luftwaffe.
Dowding's second problem was how to hide the information the RAF was gleaning from Ultra, the information from interception of German transmissions encoded with the Enigma Machine. Ultra had given the RAF advance warning of some major Luftwaffe raids, and the general radio interceptions from the Y-stations had also provided clues. It was also providing information on German shipping in the Channel. Dowding did not want the Germans becoming suspicious of how well prepared the British were getting. Dowding's solution was to create a special unit of experienced pilots to patrol the Channel during daylight hours, alone or in pairs, identifying which incoming raids were Jabos and which were fighter sweeps, and provide information on German naval activity. The activities of this unit would also provide for the Germans a believable source for the RAF's preparedness, protecting Ultra. This unit was called No. 421 Flight. It was later expanded to full squadron strength and renumbered as 91 squadron on the 11th of January 1941. Its role led to its pilots being nicknamed "Jim Crows".
L-Z (as LZ was previously used by 66Sq, 421 Flt used L-Z with a small dash, during the end of 1940, e.g., "L-Z-I"
Excerpt from the Thames Star 6th of October 1942.
"Advice has been received by Mrs M. A. Turner, of 53 Stanley Point, Devonport, that her son, Sergeant-Pilot Nelson C. Turner, has been killed on air operations overseas.
Aged 24 years, Sergeant-Pilot Turner attended the Thames High School from 1931 to 1933. His father was at that time headmaster of the Hikutaia School. He was employed at the North Insurance Company's office at Auckland when he enlisted at the outbreak of war. After serving at various New Zealand stations, he left for Britain in April, 1942, and he was posted to a Spitfire squadron.
Sergeant-Pilot Turner took an active interest in all branches of sport.
A brother is also serving with the R.N.Z.A.F. overseas."
Sources:
Spitfire production list
RAF Casualties-Sept. 1942.
CWGC
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.airhistory/presentation.org.uk
wwwnzwargraves.org.nz
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Nov-2012 02:35 | angels one five | Added |
| 11-Nov-2012 02:38 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 20-Jun-2015 09:33 | Angel dick one | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 03-Jul-2019 01:59 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 17-Sep-2019 22:51 | angels one five | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 18-Sep-2022 07:54 | Davies 62 | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-Sep-2023 08:45 | Nepa | Updated [[Aircraft type, Cn, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]] |
| 20-Dec-2023 06:48 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Location, Narrative] |
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