Allied – Spitfire Mk 1 – L1082

Unfortunately, this was the second Spitfire of the day to get into a dogfight with the Germans over Ryde, and it was flying for the 609th Squadron. It was a Bf110 that emerged victorious this time, while the Spitfire piloted by Pilot Officer Andy Mamedoff (a volunteer from the United States) sustained catastrophic damage and was forced to attempt to land.

There seems to be considerable disagreement over the specifics of the aircraft in question. It is now uncertain if the emergency landing was actually managed or whether it was a crash landing. According to a number of accounts, it successfully landed in the area close to Tapnell Farm in Freshwater. According to one more account, the pilot managed to bail out. Because of this, it seemed as if it may have appeared to hvae crashed at Broad Lane Thorley, this  led to a great deal of confusion during the day as the proximity of these two regions to one another leads one to believe that the same aircraft was responsible for both sets of claims.

The aircraft was eventually recovered which suggest a forced landing actually took place and put back into service. One year later, on August 22, 1941, it was engaged in another accident, which was the day its luck finally ran out. Andy Mamedoff, the pilot of the plane, suffered no injuries in the accident, which leads investigators to believe that he had successfully landed the plane rather than colliding with their prior acquaintance at Tapnell Farm.

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

• 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)