Date:	Wednesday 10 July 1940
Time:	13:30
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Owner/operator:	111 (Treble One) Sqn RAF
Registration:	P3671
MSN:	SD-T
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Dungeness, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Croydon, Surrey
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3671, 111 (Treble One) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from a combat air patrol. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1069): "Hurricane P3671 crashed into the sea off Dungeness, Kent, 10 July 1940. Flying Officer T P K Higgs: report of death"

Airborne at 13:05 hrs from RAF Croydon for a combat air patrol operation and convoy escort in the Dover-Folkestone area. The pilot was KIA on 10 July 1940 during air combat over the Channel off Folkestone. Attacked by Oblt. Walter Oesau of III./JG 51 he collided with a Dornier Do 17Z of 3./KG 2 "Holzhammer". Hurricane P3671 lost a wing, Higgs baled out but parachute suspension lines wrapped up around his neck and suffocated him. Flying Officer Higgs was the first RAF fighter pilot, who was KIA in the Battle of Britain

The pilot, Pilot Officer Thomas Peter Kingsland Higgs RAF (Service Number 36165, aged 23), baled out but did not survive. Believed to have drowned off Dungeness, Kent, before he could be rescued. It is possible that he was already dead (through strangulation) before he hit the water.

His body was found washed ashore at Noordwijk, Holland on 15/8/40, and buried at Noordwijk General Cemetery, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.
R.I.P.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 22)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1069: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502681
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2635331/higgs,-thomas-peter-kingsland/
4. https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T0745&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
5. https://www.facebook.com/HawkerHurricane/photos/a.381763387411.162158.30643512411/10153402223492412/
6. https://battleofbritain1940.com/entry/wednesday-10-july-1940/
7. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Higgs.htm
8. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/picture-of-fo-higgs-bailing-out.13083/
9. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/the-first-casualty-of-battle-for-the-skies-893606
10. Hawker Hurricane Mk I–V p 46 By Martyn Chorlton
11. Churchill’s Channel War: 1939-45 By Robert Jackson

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
06-Jan-2011 19:16	angels one five	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
04-Mar-2011 21:58	angels one five	Updated [Narrative]
04-Jan-2012 15:00	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
03-Jul-2013 18:34	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Narrative]
04-Aug-2013 13:17	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Narrative]
29-Sep-2015 07:59	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
01-Jan-2019 01:25	angels one five	Updated [Location, Narrative]
08-Jul-2019 07:50	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
11-Oct-2019 21:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
29-Apr-2023 15:28	Nepa	Updated [[Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]]