PHOTOS FROM THE FRONT
Our featured image from colourisation artist Richard Molloy in this issue depicts a captured RAF Hawker Hurricane in Luftwaffe markings.
This RAF Mk I Hurricane, V7670, was captured in North Africa by the Luftwaffe at some point during 1941 and repainted in German markings. Several captured Hurricanes were flown by the Luftwaffe during the early part of the war, but in respect of V7670, however, it could have been the case that the aircraft was used as some sort of landing ground decoy by the Luftwaffe and that it was never intended for flight.
What is known, though, is that V7670 was serving with 261 Squadron, RAF, in Malta until at least late April 1941, with Pilot Officer John ‘Tiger’ Pain damaging a Messerschmitt Bf 110 when flying this aircraft.
With the disbandment of 261 Squadron in May 1941, the aircraft ended up being transferred to the Desert Air Force in North Africa.
Whatever the entirety of the Hurricane’s backstory, the aircraft was captured intact and then partially re-painted in Luftwaffe markings. It was one of around 30 Hurricanes captured at Derna, Bomba and Gazala. At least two of these were earmarked for flying by the Luftwaffe, one of these aircraft being T9536.
Then, in January 1942, the tables were eventually turned and Hurricane V7670 was recaptured at Gambut (where this photograph was taken) during Operation Crusader and returned to the custody of 208 Squadron, RAF, who took it operationally on strength.
This photograph was taken shortly after the recapture of the aircraft and before it had undergone reapais, maintenance and a return to the camouflage and markings of its original owners.
The sequel to its recapture, though, is that the Hurricane was eventually lost with that squadron on
18 July 1942, when it dived into the Mediterranean Sea from 21,000ft while on a tactical reconnaissance sortie, resulting in the death of Flying Officer J C Buckley, a former Royal Artillery Captain who had transferred to the RAF. No trace of either Flying Officer Buckley, or of Hurricane V7670, was ever found.
The cause of the Hurricane’s demise is unknown, but no Luftwaffe claims can be matched to its loss and it is likely to have been accidental. Given the operating altitude, then it is highly likely that oxygen failure was the reason.