410517 - Unaccounted airmen - 17-5-1941

[paulmcmillan]

I think he means that Spits were not with 53 OTU until August 1941

[phill jones]

Henk , with regard to Spitfire N3046 , from the RAF F 78 ,
57 OTU,10/5/41
43 GROUP,20/5/41.
8 MU,9/8/41.
53 OTU,26/8/41.
it may have suffered another accident at 53 OTU ,AS IT was ROS,VICKERS,2/10/41
RIW 7/10/41.
Air britain Aeromilitaria , then lists this a/c as being SOC 31/10/41 , but the RAF F 78 MAKES NO MENTION OF THE SOC DETAILS , the 53 OTU orb also makes no mention of the crash on the 2/10/41.
i do hope this answers your question
bw phill jones

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Phill, all clear.
Regards,
Henk.

[mingbat]

Just wanted to post on here that P/Off Iain Robertson MacDiarmid 43420 (that is the correct spelling - although as you have noticed it is spelled numerous different ways in official publications) was my great uncle.

For further info if any of you wanted it he began service pre-war as a pilot Sergeant and was promoted to Pilot Officer after the start of the war.

I have been unable to find why he was awarded the DFC (his sister - my grandmother - never knew - and had always said he flew Hurricanes, but was moved to training new pilots - something I have not been able to verify) so would be interested if anyone has any information on this.

There seems to be very little information available about the meteorological flights; was this classified information historically?

Incidentally my grandmother Catherine C. MacDiarmid 2614 (often shown in records as Catherine Rena MacDiarmid) was an officer in the WAAF (attached to Bomber Command) during the war, and married my grandfather Grp Cpt P A Askew 112477,who was an oral surgeon, after her first fiance (I believe a bomber pilot) was killed in combat

[Mark Hood]

There is also an account of Hurricane V7225 Met Flight, coming down into Wellington R1587 p.27, 28 and a footnote on p.29 in Bowman's 2006 book "Flying into the Flames of Hell".

[dennis_burke]

I don't think Sgt Diaper was further mentioned in the above thread but he is mentioned in the 504 Sqn ORB.

Found shot through the head with service revolver. Inquest ruled it a suicide.