Aircraft: Hawker Hurricane Mk1
Nationality: British
Serial number: P3815
Unit: No. 501 Squadron
Call sign: N/K
Date of loss: 18/08/1940
Patrolling over Canterbury at 1.30pm, the Hurricanes of 501 Squadron were "bounced" by Bf109s of JG26 led by Oberleutnant Gerhard Schoepfel, who had the advantage of height and surprise. In five minutes, Schoepfel had shot down four of the Hurricanes, an action for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross). His second victim was Pilot Officer Kozlowski who baled out badly wounded and burnt, the aircraft crashing at Rayhams Farm, Pean Hill near Blean, Kent.
Nationality: British
Serial number: P3815
Unit: No. 501 Squadron
Call sign: N/K
Date of loss: 18/08/1940
Patrolling over Canterbury at 1.30pm, the Hurricanes of 501 Squadron were "bounced" by Bf109s of JG26 led by Oberleutnant Gerhard Schoepfel, who had the advantage of height and surprise. In five minutes, Schoepfel had shot down four of the Hurricanes, an action for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross). His second victim was Pilot Officer Kozlowski who baled out badly wounded and burnt, the aircraft crashing at Rayhams Farm, Pean Hill near Blean, Kent.
Fraciszek Kozlowski was serving with the Polish Air Force in 1939 and shared in the destruction of a Dornier 17 on 21st September, 1939. Escaping to Britain, he was commissioned into the RAF in January, 1940. Due to his injuries, Kozlowski was not to resume his operational career until 1941. Unfortunately, he did not survive the war, being shot down and killed by German fighters over northern France in 1943.
Various aluminium structural, airframe and engine casing pieces from aircraft P3815 are displayed and were part of a major recovery undertaken by the London Air Museum in 1979.
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Various aluminium structural, airframe and engine casing pieces from aircraft P3815 are displayed and were part of a major recovery undertaken by the London Air Museum in 1979.
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