Recently, Flight Lieutenant Hobbs, of 19 Squadron, joined Mr Dilip Sarkar on a dig to find remains of a 19 Squadron Spitfire.
The Spitfire in question (P9546) was being flown by a 20-year-old Canadian pilot, Sergeant George Davis. During an exercise on the 8th of April 1942, Davies was killed when his aircraft crashed near Dymock, Gloucestershire.
The site was originally investigated in 1993 by Mr Sarkar, alongside Mr Long, recovered a number of small fragments which were conserved and presented to Wing Command George Unwin DSO DFM. 30 years on and the site was reinvestigated, and some small fragments of supercharger casing were found. These fragments will be presented to 19 Squadron at their 108th anniversary dinner.
19 Squadron was originally formed on the 1st of September 1915 served during the First World War, Second World War, and the cold war, ending its service at RAF Valley where it operated the Hawk T1 until disbanded in 2011. As one of the last surviving Battle of Britain squadrons 19 Squadron now represents the UK’s Air Surveillance and Control capability which monitors, detects, and identifies all aircraft in and around UK Airspace and on overseas operations, whilst supporting Quick Reaction Alert Aircraft by scrambling fighters to intercept aircraft whose intentions are unknown.
Following the dig, Flight Lieutenant Hobbs said:
‘What was found was brilliant, so far as I was concerned, and I found inspirational that a group of people are so interested in 19 Squadron's history to do this.’
Thank you to Mr Sarkar for sharing your images.
