hello,
This is an answer to Dick's message. Dennison has nothing to do wit the air battle of 19th May 1940. He was the wingman of F/L STRICKLAND when the latter was killed in a take off crash on 14th August 1941.
Hurricane P2687 was dug out about 18 months ago or so, in the village of Bachy, as I previously stated. The group which made the dig was trying to ascertain if the crashed plane mentioned by the older inhabitants of the area was indeed S/L FIDLER's, as he's buried in the village. But there were some details that didn't match, between some of the known facts and the statements of witnesses. Some people remembered the plane crash, the pilot bailing out, landing by parachute, being burnt and recovered by allied troops present in the area. Others have seen the plane crash, and a dead pilot with a shot in the head, and were strongly believing that this pilot was exiting his machine when a bullet struck his forehead, killing him instantly. As all of you who have interviewed witnesses, you know how difficult it can be to get an accurate picture of the events.
According to Belgian researcher Dominique Van Den Broucke, it was actually Dunn who was flying P2687, he landed by parachute in Bachy, near the belgian border, and was burnt. His burns were dressed by a local family of farmers. It's difficult to have further informations from him, as he was killed in action a few days later. But his widow confirmed that he was burnt following the 19th May 1940 action.
"Jimmy" STRICKLAND came down a couple of km further, either in Nomain or Auchy-les-Orchies (I can't tell from memory), and indeed he was wounded by firearms.
Dominique has done an extensive research about this event, but members of the digging group have a very limited knowledge, which was quite apparent during the temporary exhibit of the remains of Hurricane P2687. Had they been more "open-minded", it would have been possible to join forces and compare informations and sources to have a better picture of the whole event. They strongly refused my input in this case, so I chose to keep my research for myself...
I've been gathering informations about the 19th May 1940 air battles for years, from as much sources as I can, and there's still many gaps to fill in, and I'm afraid a few will remain so.
Joss
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