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* Report: July 15th, 2023: The Belgians Parade to the London Cenotaph *

RAF aircraft's crash sites in Province of Hainaut:
Templeuve

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Last update: 25/06/23


Elegy to
the Heroes of Silence


* To the 1PRU Squadron *
* To the crew of P9308 *
* To the monument erected in remembrance *
* Cemetery where rest the crew *

Crash site of Spitfire P9308
19/05/1940

aircraft
cest raf squadron
Unit: 1PRU Squadron
Aircraft: Spitfire
Code: P9308
Base:
Mission: Recce
Crew officer: P/O COLEMAN, JOHN HERBERT
Incident: Shot down by German fighter

Location: (Prov. Hainaut)

crash

Facts

Supermarine Spitfire P9308; Built as a Spitfire Ia (c/no. 511). Originally built for delivery to the Turkish Air Force, but order cancelled 4-9-39 due to outbreak of war. First Flown 23-1-40. Delivered to 2 Photographic Development Unit, Heston Aircraft Ltd., Heston Middlesex 11-2-40. Converted to Spitfire PR.III Type C. To Vickers Armstrong Experimental Aircraft for mods (additional fuel tanks in wings, range 2000 miles; wing became Supermarine Type 353 'D' Wing)
To Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), RAF 1-4-40. Coded "LY-A", although photographs of Spitfire P9308 show only the "LY" code. First Photo-Recce operation against Emden, Germany, 5-4-40 by Flight Lt Le Mesurier.
Written off (destroyed) when went Missing from PR mission to Hamburg. Pilot Officer J Coleman posted as missing, believed killed 19-5-40. Some published sources claim that Spitfire P9308 was shot down by a Messerschmit Bf-109 piloted by Fw Roth 4./JG. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/421): "Pilot Officer J H Coleman, report of death; Spitfire P9308 crashed at Templeuve, Belgium, 19 May 1940".
Unofficial sources give the crash site as the junction of Rue Forzeau and Rue Estafflers, in Templeuve, Tournai, Hainaut, Belgium.

crash

Sources:
Aviation Safety
The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
Aircrew Remembered
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