August 2018 FLYPAST 35HAWKER HURRICANE 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
DEAD AHEAD
Plt Off Christopher Foxley-Norris
had no time to react as his propeller
was shot away. His Hurricane,
Z2754 N-for-Nuts, went into a
spin, but he managed to bale out
successfully without serious injury.
His aircraft passed low over Ittinge
Farm, northeast of Ashford, where
Mr Wood thought it was going to
crash into his farmhouse.
Instead, it flew over the roof,
missed a tree and flopped down
in an adjacent field at Great Holt
Farm, Elmsted.
It was 19:07 hours and
Hauptmann Joppien had claimed
his second ‘kill’, this coming just
two minutes after he had dispatched
Holmwood.
Foxley-Norris (who later became
ACM Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris
GCB DSO OBE) gave an account of the
combat:
“We flew seven aircraft, two
vics of three and one ‘weaver’ to
watch astern. I led the second vic,
Holmwood led the flight.
“We were vectored onto the enemy,
whose height was given as 32,000ft.
Early on in the sortie, Plt Off Hone
was shot down and wounded.”
Hone crash-landed, wheels up. He
could not remember the locationLeft
A 615 Sqn Hurricane
during the Battle of
Britain. WW2IMAGESAbove
Wg Cdr R A
Holmwood. SIR
CHRISTOPHER FOXLEY-
NORRIS“It was Holmwood that Ron Marsh had seen
desperately struggling with his burning
parachute: he fell to his death at Window
Blow, an escarpment on the Kent Downs”