HURRICANE WITH HISTORY

Occasionally we learn of one aircraft crash whilst investigating another; this was the case with a Hurricane at Salters Lode. The original object of our research was an 18 Sqn Blenheim lost in April 1941. Owner of the land where this had crashed told us that he had recently bought another farm at Salters Lode, and that he had been told of a pair of wartime crashes there. One, a 15 Sqn Stirling had been recovered by the Fenland, but the other, a 'Spitfire', was still to be found.

The initial search revealed only a handful of fragments on the surface of the field, but these were enough to show to us that it was in fact a Hurricane. The wait for harvest gave us the time for the several months of research that were needed to establish which Hurricane it was. The identity turned out be N2621 of 56 OTU based at Sutton Bridge. The pilot Sgt Arthur Innes was killed, although he had managed to escape from the aircraft he was presumably too low for his parachute to deploy. Sgt Innes had, out of a total of 120 flying hours, 41 on Hurricanes and as such was probably coming towards the end of his training and would have been due to be posted to an operational squadron. A married man, he was from Colindale in London and is buried in Hendon cemetery.

Although at present we know little of its pilot this Hurricane turned out to have had a colourful career prior to its destruction. It was assigned to 43 Sqn. on 9^th June 1940. During the Battle of Britain it was flown by Pilot Officer CA Woods-Scawen. A veteran of the Battle of France and of two parachute jumps by the middle of August, he destroyed a Ju87 'Stuka' on 16th August 1940 in this aircraft and was obliged to force-landed on the Isle of Wight following damage by return fire. Returned to Hawkers for repairs it passed through 19 Maintenance Unit and on to a new unit formed in early 1941. 316 Sqn, a Polish fighter squadron formed at Pembury and performed defensive duties over south-western England during the spring and early summer of 1941, until they re-quipped with Hurricane II's and their role changed to the offensive with sweeps over France. Their MkI machines were relegated to training and N2621 was sent to 56 Operational Training Unit on the Lincolnshire / Norfolk border.

A little over a month later on 28^th July 1941 Sgt Innes was on an aerobatics practice flight when he presumably had engine failure as the Hurricane was recorded as having "Dived into ground at high speed with engine off".

The October 2001 excavation showed that the Hurricane had hit the soft Fen ground in an inverted position, although the majority of the fuselage structure had been recovered at the time of the crash, much of the aircraft forward of the instrument panel remained. The main instrument panel was retrieved almost unbroken, the glass in the oxygen gauge is still intact. Other cockpit items, the trim wheel, a rudder pedal strap and the recognition switch box were found close to the panel. Under these was the Rolls Royce Merlin III engine, the supercharger was broken off but otherwise it was in excellent condition. The N series Hurricanes were fitted with metal blade propellers and because the engine was stopped on impact all three blades remained attached, were as normally they would be snapped off. Underneath the Merlin were the armoured screen and the reflector gunsight, incredibly both were unbroken.

From amongst the pieces of alloy skinning and engine bearer steel tubing, one engine cowling, when unfolded still showed its ancestry with a Polish badge and the word 'Poland' painted on it. (below left) Another, an access panel, had a partial serial still remaining on the inside (below right).

The engine has been the subject of an excellent restoration, the supercharger and propeller unit having remounted in their respective positions. It has also been mounted on a trailer for use as a mobile display as currently space is short at the museum. Already this has been taken to several events and has been the subject of much interest. Also the instrument panel and armoured windscreen form a part of the display.

Thanks to all those who helped us with the awkward but interesting task of identifying this Hurricane