ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 225089
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| Date: | Monday 24 August 1942 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Supermarine Spitfire Mk II |
| Owner/operator: | 53 OTU RAF |
| Registration: | P8527 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 1 mile south of Pontypool Road, Pontypool, Glamorgan, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Llandow, Glamorgan |
| Return. |
Spitfire P8527 was one of 1000 delivered to the RAF by Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory to contract 981687/39 between June and July 1941. Its service life included assignments with 610 (County of Chester), 616 (South Yorkshire), 315 (Polish), 266, and 124 Squadrons, before being issued on 5th June 1942 to 53 OTU, RAF Llandow, Glamorgan. The aircraft was destroyed when it dived into the ground 1 mile south of Pontypool Road, Pontypool, Glamorgan, on 24th August 1942. The pilot was killed.
Pilot: Sergeant Trevor Anthony Tate ( aged 20) (Service Number 1023722) - killed. Buried Morecambe And Heysham (Hale Carr) Cemetery, Morecambe, Lancashire, Plot Blue 'D'. Grave.
R.I.P.
Details:
The donation of specially marked weapons of war to the actual combatants has been carried out for centuries, and in the First World War the tank and the aeroplane joined the list of presentation weapons. The government urged the public to “do their bit” and donate to funds which would buy a tank, ambulance, field gun or aeroplane. This idea was resurrected in WW2, and a “price list” was made out:
£5,000 for a single-engine fighter usually a Spitfire but sometimes a Hurricane or other type. £20,000 for a twin-engine aircraft such as a Beaufighter or Mosquito.
£40,000 for one of the four-engine aircraft.
The actual cost of a Spitfire was reported to be £8897.6s.6d, about £255,608 in today’s money. Beaverbrook recognised that it would be difficult for cash strapped organisations to raise such large sums so he decided to make the public an offer that they couldn’t refuse. He dropped the nominal price of a Spitfire to just £5000, equivalent to £143,600 today. If communities or organisations could raise £5000 Lord Beaverbrook would build a Spitfire, stick their name on it and give it to the RAF. The Spitfire was a steal at £5,000, this being just half the cost for a torpedo at that time. Even individuals along with businesses and communities could have a Spitfire inscribed with a name of their choice if the requisite amount was raised. The funds eventually raised over £13 million. With a wide range of names appeared, from the obvious to the mystical. Individual aircraft history cards were generally marked with the name, but this was not always done. Sometimes pilots and aircrew painted personal names on aircraft. These were not official presentation aircraft.
P8527 was one such presentation Spitfire with funds raised from the people of the Island of Mauritius, who raised so much that there was another fighter that carried the name then later in 1942 there was enough to form a complete squadron of 10 Hurricanes, this squadron became 174 ‘Mauritius’ squadron. The squadron became one of the leading ‘Hurribomber’ units by the end of 1942.
P8527 was well travelled and served with six squadrons, she was first posted to No.610 squadron on the 19th of June 1941. The squadron had moved south to RAF Westhampnett where it was one of Douglas Bader’s three Spitfire squadrons of the ‘Tangmere Wing’. P8527 was one of the replacement Spitfires sent to bring the squadron back up to full operational status before being replaced by the new mark five. One of the other squadrons involved with the ‘Wing’, No.616, to which P8527 went to (over the other side of the airfield) on the 19th of July. Before she was allocated a set of radio codes, seven days later, on the 27th of July she moved out of the Wing and went to No. 315 (Polish) squadron. 315 had come down south to RAF Northolt and were being re-equipped with the Spitfire. P8527 was yet again one of the building blocks to bring another squadron up to full strength. She was one of six aircraft to come from 616 squadron on the 27th.
Her very first operational patrol took place on the 5th of August, and she was flown by P/O Kornicki. The next day saw her involved on her first operational sweep over France and the squadrons first ‘Circus’ happened on the 9th. P8527 finally saw active service! Ten operations took place and on the 21st she flew on her first ‘Rhubarb’. Four more sorties took place and then on the 2nd of September, the squadron was stood down for re-equipping with the Spitfire five, once again P8527 was off and came to 266 squadron on the 7th of September. It appears that she didn’t even get any codes and she was a spare. P8527 didn’t even fly with this squadron, and she left on the 20th to go to 124 squadron. (Which main duty was to provide air defence for Scapa Flow). During the end of September and into October 1941 it converted to Spitfire Mk IIBs.
A big difference in the flying lay ahead.
1st October, Sgt Ashton, Flotsam patrol.
3rd October, Sgt Ashton, Scramble. Intercepted Hudson.
5 other Flotsam patrols occurred until the squadron moved by ‘Special Train’ to RAF Biggin Hill, leaving all the MkII’s behind, arriving at Biggin to take over from 54 squadron! P8527 last squadron was to be No.54, she didn’t have to go far!
No. 54 Squadron returned to Hornchurch in February 1941, flying fighter sweeps and bomber escort missions over Northern France until November 1941, when it moved north to RAF Castletown, Caithness, taking the ‘Special Train’ that 124 had just came south in. 54 went north to undertake coastal patrols over the Pentland Firth. In June 1942, the squadron was moved to RAF Wellingore to prepare for moving to Australia. It was with 54, that P8527 stayed the longest and at the same RAF station.
On the 5th of June 1942 she came to 53 OTU when 54 squadron was deployed oversea to the Pacific. Her stay here was cut short again when on the 24th of August she was being flown by a fairly new trainee pilot who was tasked to conduct navigation and aerobatics, but whist over the area east of Pontypool, the Spitfire was seen to go into a steep climb with a turn at the top, he sadly didn’t recover and was seen to dive under power into the ground near the large Llandegfedd Reservoir killing the pilot instantly. The reason for the crash was thought to be ‘Pilot Black out’!
Sgt Trevor Anthony Tate 20yo 1023722 RAFVR. Pilot. Killed.
Son of Hilda Frances Tate of Morcombe.
Buried:
Heysham (Hale Carr) Cemetery. Plot Blue ‘D’. Grave 55.
Wreckage:
All removed but rumoured some large remains below ground?
Memorials:
CWGC Headstone.
Additional Information:
On 18 March 1941, Bader was promoted to acting Wing Commander and became one of the first "Wing Leaders”. Stationed at Tangmere with 610 & 616, the other being 145, under his command, Bader led his wing of Spitfires on sweeps and ‘Circus Ops’.
Spitfire P8528 the next one off the line, was also a presentation aircraft named 'Township of Shipley'. The two aircraft had reunited briefly went they both flew with 315 squadron. P8528 crashed after hitting power cables whilst low flying on the 9th of April 1943. The pilot was killed in the crash.
Flight Sergeant John William Brooks DFC DFM was based at Manston, Kent in 174 Squadron. 174 Squadron was called the Mauritius Squadron due to the fact that the money raised to buy all the hurricanes came from the good people of Mauritius. This generous act was never forgotten by the Sergeant. Another interesting fact of the squadron was that each of the Hurricanes had the legend ‘Mauritius’ adorned on the fuselage followed by the relevant roman numeral from I to X.
In 1995, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of World War II, a series of 3 postage stamps was issued. One of which depicted P8527 when she was with No.610 squadron.
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, many Mauritians volunteered to serve under the British flag in Africa and the Near East, fighting against the German and Italian armies. Some went to England to become pilots and ground staff in the Royal Air Force. Mauritius was never really threatened, but in 1943 several British ships were sunk outside Port Louis by German submarines.
During World War II, conditions were hard in the country; the prices of commodities doubled but workers’ salaries increased only by 10 to 20 percent.
Sources:
1. Halley, J J, 1996, Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000 to R9999, page 78
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p007.html
3. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2403884/tate,-trevor-anthony/
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?6437-420824-Unaccounted-airmen-24-8-1942
www.nationalarchives.gov
www.iwm.org.uk
www.findagrave.com
www.gaetanmarie.com
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-May-2019 20:29 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 14-May-2019 20:30 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Nature] |
| 25-May-2019 11:38 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location] |
| 08-Oct-2019 17:19 | angels one five | Updated [Cn, Location, Nature, Narrative] |
| 09-Jun-2022 08:41 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 22-Jul-2022 05:47 | Davies 62 | Updated [Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 19-Aug-2023 03:38 | angels one five | Updated [[Destination airport, Source, Narrative]] |
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