Allied – Hurricane Z3899

During the time that they were on patrol from No. 1 Squadron at Tangmere, two Hurricanes flew into Ryde while flying quite low over the Solent in a direction that was south-westerly. Because of the miscalculation in altitude, a rather tall stand of trees suddenly came into view, and the aircraft in front of the formation, which was flown by Flt. Sgt. L.J. Travis, was forced to immediately draw up. The unfortunate result of this situation was that wingman Flt. Sgt. D. F. Perrin, who was pursuing Z3899 at the time, unexpectedly drew too near, and his propeller cut through the tailplane of BD940.

As a direct consequence of this, the lead Hurricane crashed into the ground quite close to the terminus of Play Street Lane, on the property of a residence known as St. Wilfreds. Flt. Sgt. Travis was unable to escape in time and was killed in the collision. The situation turned out better for Flt. Sgt. Perrin since he was able to get some altitude and safely parachute out of the aircraft. It proceeded a bit farther and eventually came to a stop at Dame Anthony’s Common, which is located halfway to Havenstreet.

   Note: All images are merely representative of the aircraft and not specific.

• Hurricane BD940

• All images are of similar aircraft and not the specific plane in question
• Wight Air Wrecks – A T Gilliam ISBN 0-7524-2376-2
• Battle in the Skies – H J Leal (IWCP)