249 Squadron Hurricane Code letter-GN-?

[rhagger]

Hurricane V7536 flown by P/O Bill Millington was lost on 30th October 1940.

Does anyone know the individual code letter of this aircraft?

Thanks for any replies.

Robert

[Lawzer]

GN-L?

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/374361787760420048/

 

[rhagger]

Thanks Lawzer-much appreciated.

I'll look out for some more info to try and verify that.

Since posting I've had a look at 249 Sqn ORB from the National Archives website and can't see a V7536 listed . V7538 is a number of times. I'll have to recheck the source citing V7536 as the serial of P/O Millington's last a/c.

The available ORB records for October stop on the 29th of the month so I've not seen a primary source for this serial.

cheers

[Lawzer]

well I think you can safely say it's not GN-A

Seems all the references to P/O Millington refer to V7536 as you said.

[mhaselden]

28 minutes ago, Lawzer said:

well I think you can safely say it's not GN-A

 

Why so?  If you're referring to Nicholson's aircraft in which he won the VC, that engagement was on 16 Aug, leaving plenty of time for a replacement to arrive and be adorned with unit code letters by the time of Millington's loss at the end of Oct. 

[Lawzer]

I'm only saying that as it seems a fairly often modelled aircraft and of all the pictures I've seen they all have the serial (if that's what it is) of P3576........

 

 

[Graham Boak]

Once P3576 was shot down, its replacement would be on the squadron the following morning.  It may or may not have received the same letter, depending upon chance/circumstance, but there will have been a string of GN.A Hurricanes in the history of 249 Sq.  Therefore it is possible that V7356/7358 could have carried the letter A: whether it did nor not is another matter.

[rhagger]

Poles in Defence of Britain

 

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Iy3gDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=poles+in+defence+of+britain&source=bl&ots=Hm_sx0V6Xt&sig=UEqeu-kKtAoAGnZsEcyob7o2ffw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOncH1zb3UAhUDbrwKHTtaCjQQ6AEITjAH#v=onepage&q=poles in defence of britain&f=false

 

lists some 249 Sqn a/c- serials and code letters- for an action on Nov 7th (scroll down) 8 days after P/O Millington's loss. He flew  V7677 on 29th October by the ORB and this a/c is listed as GN-N.

P3463 is listed as 'L' that day.

PS- just saw your reply Graham-posted as I was typing. Thanks.

From this book it seems V7538 was still with the squadron on Nov 7th and was coded 'T'

Robert

Edited June 14, 2017 by rhagger

[mhaselden]

I've just skimmed through "249 Sqn At War" by Brian Cull.  He agrees with Millington being killed in V7536 but doesn't identify a code letter.  The serial number doesn't appear associated with any other kills within the Sqn.  Given the lack of info about the airframe, it's entirely possible that it was a recent replacement that may not have carried any codes. 

[mhaselden]

Dug a little deeper into Cull's book (I hadn't read it before...shame on me!).  I didn't realise that 249 Sqn essentially exchanged aircraft (and groundcrews!) with 56 Sqn at the beginning of Sep 40 when 249 moved from Boscombe Down to North Weald.  The airframe swap was necessary because 249's Hurricanes were still using the "old" TR9D HF radio while 11 Gp squadrons were using the newer VHF sets.  The 249 Sqn pilots flew their aircraft to North Weald and took over 56 Sqn's machines while the 56 Sqn pilots flew the 249 airframes back to Boscombe.  The 56 Sqn groundcrew stayed at North Weald to service 249 Sqn while the 249 groundcrew stayed at Boscombe to receive "their" old airframes now flown by 56 Sqn pilots.  I've never heard of a squadron changeover like this before...but maybe it was commonplace.  It makes some sense given the operational imperatives during the Battle of Britain.

 

The above ramble was simply to point out that, as of 1 Sep 40, 249 Sqn had a complete changeover in airframes.  The 56 Sqn airframes would retain their 'US' code letters until such time as they could be repainted with 249's 'GN' codes which, obviously, further complicates the identification of specific code letters associated with specific airframes.  GN codes start appearing around 6 Sep but some US codes are still present a week later, so the process clearly took some time squeezed in between periods of hectic operational activity.  The period 8-10 Sep is identified as a time of slow ops when much repainting of codes was accomplished.  Sadly, not many individual code letters are identified for the former-56 Sqn airframes. 

 

Hurricane V7536 is identified as a replacement airframe received sometime after 1 Sep 40.  Interestingly, 249 Sqn also operated V7537 and V7538.  The odds of 3 sequential serial numbers cropping up by chance is pretty slim so it's reasonable to assume all 3 airframes arrived on the same date to replace combat losses.  V7537 was shot down on 8 Oct 40 so, if my initial assumption is correct, V7536 must have arrived sometime before this date.  Cull identifies 2 dates when multiple replacement Hurricanes were received; 4 airframes on 4 Sep and another 3 on 11 Sep.  Note that there may be other instances when multiple airframes were received that Cull doesn't list. 

 

Now...ex-56 Sqn Hurricane V6625 'US-K' was shot down on 5 Sep 40 and R4229 'GN-J' was lost the following day (although V7676 was also identified as 'GN-J' but it depends when that airframe arrived on the squadron to define whether it was a direct replacement for R4229 or for another airframe that had replaced R4229).  'Fraid these are the only possible airframe/code tie-ups that I've been able to identify, so the odds are extremely long that V7536 wore either of these code letters.  Alas, none of this rambling gets us very much closer to identifying an individual code letter for V7536.

 

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

Cheers,
Mark

Edited June 16, 2017 by mhaselden