IN AUGUST 1940 A SPITFIRE FORCE-LANDED AT A LUFTWAFFE AIRFIELD IN FRANCE; AT LAST THE ENEMY ‘SUPER FIGHTER’ COULD BE EVALUATED. CHRIS GOSS TELLS HOW IT CAME ABOUT
During the ‘Phoney War’ and Battle of France the Hurricane was the RAF’s only fighter in France. This changed in late May 1940 when the RAF was engaged over the Dunkirk beaches and Spitfires started to appear.
The Battle of France is regarded as ending on May 20. Operation ‘Dynamo’, the evacuation of Allied troops from France, began on the 26th.
Luftwaffe chiefs had been anxious to get their hands on a Spitfire since the war began, if not before. With Spitfires patrolling the French coast, it would only be a matter of time before one would force-land, almost intact. Obtaining one in good enough condition to be repaired and re-flown would be a massive intelligence coup for the Reich.
FIRST TO FALL
One of the first was K9977 ‘ZP-Q’ of 74 Squadron on May 22. Damaged in combat with a Junkers Ju 88, Plt Off Dick Aubert crash-landed at Berck-sur-Mer, south of Le Touquet, where it was abandoned. Aubert got back to England, only to be killed in action three days later. When the Germans reached the coast, they were greeted with the sight of a Spitfire that would never fly again.
