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Date: | Saturday 1 June 1940 |
Time: | 05:40 LT |
Type: | Supermarine Spitfire Mk I |
Owner/operator: | 222 (Natal) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | P9339 |
MSN: | 542 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Bouquehault, 16 km south of Calais, Pas de Calais -
France
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Hornchurch, Essex |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:P9339: Spitfire Mk.Ia (c/no 542) First Flown 13-2-40. Delivered to the RAF at 6 MU 25-2-40. Issued to 222 (Natal) Squadron 16-3-40 as "ZD-J". Shot down by Bf 109 on patrol over Dunkerque 1-6-40; pilot killed. Total Flying Hours 92.05.
According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident: "Spitfire P9339 crashed at Bouquehault, France, 1 June 1940. Pilot Officer G Massey-Sharpe: report of death".
Airborne from RAF Hornchurch, Essex for a dawn combat air patrol over the Dunkirk area. Shot down in air to air combat by a Bf 109 at Bouquehault, 15 km south of Calais, Pas de Calais, France, and killed in action. However, some sources state the the Spitfire collided head-on with a Bf 110C of Oberlt Möller of 2./ZG1 at 05:40 hrs; P/O Gerald Massey-Sharpe was killed, and the crew of the Bf 110C bailed out and were captured.
Crew of Spitfire P9339:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Gerald Massey-Sharpe, RAF 41857, age 19, killed in action 01/06/1940, buried at Pihen-les-Guines Cemetery (near Dunkirk), Pas de Calais, France
The reported crash location of Bouquehault is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France, located 10 miles (16 km) south of Calais, at approximate Coordinates: 50°49′38″N 1°54′15″E.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 52)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/721:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502498 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2280516/massey-sharpe,-gerald/ 4.
http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/222_squadron.html#0106 5.
http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=5156 6.
http://aircrewremembered.com/massey-sharpe-gerald.html 7.
https://forum.keypublishing.com/forum/historic-aviation/100942-spitfire-p9339-222-sqn-shot-down-1-june-1940 8.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=18668 9.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouquehault Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
03-Aug-2008 23:16 |
Anon. |
Added |
27-Dec-2011 07:12 |
Nepa |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
10-Nov-2012 01:50 |
angels one five |
Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Narrative] |
10-Nov-2012 02:34 |
angels one five |
Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Narrative] |
25-Feb-2014 00:59 |
angels one five |
Updated [Operator, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
09-Jun-2015 09:35 |
Angel dick one |
Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Narrative] |
02-Sep-2019 23:33 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Date, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
02-Sep-2019 23:51 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Country, Source, Narrative] |
02-Sep-2019 23:52 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source] |
03-Sep-2019 19:44 |
stehlík49 |
Updated [Operator] |
08-Sep-2019 02:46 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Damage] |