FlyPast – August 2018

36 FLYPAST August 2018

Right

Posing in front of 615

Squadron Hurricane

‘KW-F’ is believed to

be Sgt Egan of 501

Squadron. He was

killed in action on

September 17, 1940.

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of the crash but thought it was on

marshland south of Ashford.

Climbing out of his Hurricane,

confused and disorientated, Hone

pulled out his revolver and started

firing in all directions. Realising he

was an RAF pilot, soldiers restrained

him and took him to a nearby

house where a lady gave him tea. He

passed out and eventually woke up

in Ashford Hospital.

Thought to have been shot down

as Oberleutnant Hans-Karl Keitel’s

sixth victory, Hone survived the war,

becoming a squadron leader.

CHURCHILL SALUTE

The body of 29-year-old Wg

Cdr Holmwood was retrieved

from Dunlies Wood, south of

Canterbury, and taken to a barn

at nearby Wadden Hall. He was

buried on March 3, 1941 at St

Luke’s Church, Whyteleafe, Surrey.

As 615 Squadron was ‘Churchill’s

Own’, the Prime Minister’s personal

bodyguard, Commander Walter H

Thompson, attended the funeral as

mark of respect.

Frenchman Adjudant René

Mouchotte, also serving with 615

Squadron, was not flying with

the others. That morning he had

trouble with his aircraft and

was stranded on an emergency

airstrip.

In his diary he wrote: “We loved

our CO. He was a great Francophile

and often took our part! His

frightful death, not in combat, is

upsetting everyone. Three planes

lost without anyone seeing a thing.”

VICTORS

On June 30, ‘Jupp’ Joppien brought

down five Soviet bombers near

Bobruysk, bringing his tally to

51. He was himself shot down in
    early July but returned to duty the
    following month.
    At Jelnja, southwest of Bryansk,
    on August 25, Joppien was flying
    Bf 109F-2 9670 when his luck ran
    out. The 29-year-old was shot down
    by a Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich
    MiG-3, having been credited
    with 70 victories at the time of his
    disappearance, 42 of which were in
    western Europe.
    Immediately after his successful
    combat against 615 Squadron
    on February 26, Hans-
    Karl Keitel

1918 2018

Above

Wg Cdr Holmwood’s

Hurricane Z2354 at

Kenley, a few days

before it crashed at

Hastingleigh. PETER

COOKSLEY

Above right

A bomb-blasted

Hurricane of 615

Squadron after

a raid on Kenley

during the Battle of

Britain, summer 1940.

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