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27.08.1940. No. 1 Squadron R.A.F. Hurricane I. P3897. P/O Chetham.
Mission: Not known.

Date: 27th August 1940

Time: 1.00 a.m.

Unit: No.1 Squadron R.A.F. (Northolt)

Type: Hawker Hurricane Mk.I

Serial: P3897

Coded: JX-

Location: In small wood, Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire, England.

Pilot: Pilot Officer. Charles Arthur Copeland Chetham. 82946 - Baled out safely.

REASON FOR LOSS:


This aircraft was held by searchlights and pilot lost control. The abandoned aircraft dived into a small wood and was totally destroyed. P/O Chetham baled out unhurt and landed at Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Flight-Lieutenant M H Brown and Pilot Officer Chetham
Flight-Lieutenant M H Brown and Pilot Officer Chetham of No.1 Squadron RAF standing by the nose of a Hawker Hurricane Mark I at Wittering, Huntingdonshire. (IWM)

Hurricane relics recovered Speen

During 1990 a search for the crash site was conducted with full approval of the landowner. The site was found pretty quickly after talking with the locals. A quick metal detector scan of the area produced mostly damaged .303 ammunition. However there was a dip in the ground which was giving readings on the detector. An application to the MOD for a licence to recover the aircraft was duly sought. In 1991 we received the permission we had been waiting for and licence No.681 wasissued. A search of the crash site revealed that the engine had been smashed to pieces on hitting the flinty soil of the chilterns. Above a selection of small parts recovered now in the Lumley collection.


Hurricane crash site Speen 1991

Researched and compiled by Melvin Brownless, updated June 2013

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