ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 158142
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 July 1940 |
| Time: | 19:00 LT |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia |
| Owner/operator: | 54 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | L1093 |
| MSN: | 308 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | English Channel, off Dover, Kent, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Rochford, Southend, Essex |
| RAF Rochford, Essex |
Spitfire Mk.I L1093 (c/n 308 - 308th production aircraft out of the first production batch of 310)
30-08-39: First flown at Eastleigh, Hampshire
02-09-39: Issued to 41 Sqaudron RAF Catterick, North Yorkshire
29-05-40: Transferred to 54 Squadron, RAF
09-07-40: Shot down by Bf109s on convoy escort off Dover, Kent. Pilot - Pilot Officer Sydney John Anthony "Tony" Evershed (Service Number 80810) - killed in action. According to the following extract from an article in The Dover Mercury, 30 June 2011:
"Tuesday 9th July was to prove another day of tough pre-Battle of Britain dog-fighting when more pilots of Fighter Command would be killed or wounded and miss by mere hours the accolade to be "One of The Few". Convoy patrols were still making great demands of the RAF throughout the day and into the evening and at just before 7pm, 'A' Flight from 54 Squadron consisting of six Spitfires departed Rochford near Southend to patrol around North Foreland.
They met a Luftwaffe Heinkel He59 floatplane in Red Cross markings supposedly tasked in searching for downed aircrew along with a heavy escort of Messerschmitt Me109s. In the ensuing battle, the Heinkel was forced down damaged upon The Goodwin Sands and two confirmed and two unconfirmed Messerschmitts also fell to the guns of the RAF Spitfires.
However three of the Spitfires were in turn lost during the intense fight with two of them crashing near Manston with the loss of one pilot. The other Spitfire that did not return to Rochford was that being flown by 24 years old Pilot Officer Sydney Evershed from Derbyshire. Unable to escape the withering fire of a Messerschmitt, he was possibly killed inside the cockpit of his aircraft; as the doomed RAF fighter arched down towards the English Channel, the pilot made no attempt to escape and residents of Dover watched as yet another brave British airman went hurtling down to a watery grave. P/O Evershed would not be the last. Unbeknown then to both the RAF and their Luftwaffe adversary, the next morning would herald the beginning of the Battle of Britain"
16-07-40: Struck Off Charge
NOTE: Several published sources give the date of the crash - and the death of the pilot - as 11-07-40. However, the date was 9-7-40, as confirmed by CWGC Records (see link #4) and the National Archives (PRO Kew) (See link #2) which states "Pilot Officer S J A Evershed: missing presumed dead; Spitfire L1093 lost in air operations, 9 July 1940"
Sources:
1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1064: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502676
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p002.html
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?3221-Spitfire-L1093-54-Squadron
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269754/evershed,-sydney-john-anthony/
6. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Warwickshire/BirminghamUniversity.html
7. http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Information/Articles/Incidents/First%20Nine%20Days.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Aug-2013 13:49 | JINX | Added |
| 02-Mar-2015 18:43 | Weeks | Updated [Operator] |
| 01-May-2018 16:00 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-Oct-2019 22:52 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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