Hurricane p3208

[martin297]

Hi looking for info on hurricane p3208,crashed on 18th august 1940 i think!.
My grandfather saw it crash when he was in the homeguard in canterbury,when i was a young lad he used to tell me about the local crash sites,something i never followed up until now( 30 years later!)
I know roughly where it crashed, i need to know whether it was recovered i have the pilots name, p.o. j.w bland and it crashed close to the A28 in sturry kent.
Thanks, Martin.

[talltom]

P/O. J W. Bland (Killed)
501 Squadron.
Hurricane P3208. 'T'
Shot down over Canterbury by Me109 of JG26.


tom

[talltom]

sorry missed this it got recovered and is now at kents battle of britain museum Aeroflight » Kent Battle of Britain Museum if you scroll down to the table it has a list of the planes on display this one is no.8

tom

[martin297]

Wow that was quick! thanks mate, i least i know where it is now, on to the next one then! Dont want to give anything misleading away because the info i have is very "second hand" if you know what i mean .
Will post again when i have something a little less vague, dont want people going on a wild goose chase.
Thanks again mate, martin.

[martin297]

Sorry mate am i missing something but its listed as "full scale model"? cheers, martin.

[talltom]

sorry forgot that the original got smashed so bad when they found it they build a replica but there are a few original parts on the plane that they could use the rest is a repro

tom

(are you trying to find planes that haven't been found)

[NickW]

Wow! - Reading all the comments about the Kent museum - I think I will give it a miss! I was going to visit last year, but a friend warned me to keep quiet about who I was or they would not even let me in - I thought this was a tall tale and very exaggerated, but couldn't make it in the end due to other commitments on the trip - Looks like he was spot on - Also never realised virtually all the aircraft are replicas - sticking a few crash dug bits on them for "provenance" just doesn’t cut it.

[big ned]

Beware searching the crash site without permission. Field walking is o.k., but no M.D's or digging is allowed by law as this site is probably covered by the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Failure to abide will see you prosecuted, so do it right.

P/O Bland was one of four 501 aircraft shot down that day just after 1.30 in the afternoon in 2 minutes, all by the JG 26 ace Oberleutnant Gerhard Schopfel. The other three pilots all bailed out and survived. Here is a photo of two of his victims actually taking off from Gravesend on that final sortie. In the foreground, P3059 flown by P/O K.N.T. 'Hawkeye' Lee, who bailed out, and P3208 flown by P/O J.W.Bland who was killed.

Regards, Ned.

[Vonforhud]

Gerhard Schöpfel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The wiki of the German pilot. It also mentions this encounter.

[martin297]

Thanks to all for taking the time to help me!, yes i seem to be following up some of the local crash "tales" that were relayed to me there are one or two others all within 5 miles of my front door.not surprising really, i am 5 mins by road from manston.
Hawkeye lee's hurricane engine was recovered quite recently from a garden in whitstable, there is another "spitfire"funny how its always a spitfire! in a former timber yard at pean hill between canterbury and whitstable. There was a german fighter bomber on the beach at seasalter for years according to my grandfather and wasnt recovered until the late sixties.
If anyone would like to pass any info to me it would be fantastic,any info i have i will of course pass on to you.
Thanks once again everyone your help is invaluable.