Supermarine Spitfire N3196 had an illustrious career that almost outshines the men who flew it! What follows is a description of its working life from its first flight on 27th November 1939 through its delivery to 41 Squadron on 14th April 1940, to its final destruction in a crash at Kiln Pit Hill on 25th April 1943.
It was built at the Supermarine factory at Woolston, Southampton and had its test flight on 27th November 1939, finally being delivered to 27 Maintenance Unit at RAF Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire on 2nd January 1940. After extensive testing it was delivered to 41 Squadron at RAF Catterick, Yorkshire on 14th April 1940.
On 26th April 1940, whilst returning from a patrol, the plane struck a sector light and damaged its undercarriage which in turn caused it to crash land and overturn. The pilot, Sgt Isaac E Howitt, was unhurt in the incident. However the aircraft was badly damaged and had to be dismantled and returned to the factory, at Hamble, Hampshire, for repairs on 5th May 1940.
After repair, on 26th August 1940, it was sent to 9 Maintenance Unit at RAF Cosford, Shropshire who in turn allocated it 603 Squadron at RAF Hornchurch on 3rd September 1940 from where it was to take part in the Battle of Britain. Only four days later it was in the thick of the fray, piloted by Sgt (later Squadron Leader) B G “Stap Me” Stapleton when it was badly shot up by a Messerschmidt Bf109. He nursed it back over the Channel and crash landed in a ploughed field near Sutton Valence in Kent. He achieved a score of 6 kills, 2 shared kills, 8 probables and 2 damaged – several of them in this aircraft. However, the aircraft was salvaged and returned to the Hamble factory for repairs just three days after the accident.
After the war he wrote the following:
".......During my dive from altitude I spotted a Spitfire at about 6,000' diving vertically, half inverted, towards the ground, it's tail shot away. I then spotted a lone 109 in the same airspace as an RAF pilot descending by parachute. I latched onto the German and pursued him at low-level over the Kent countryside. As I fired short bursts he attempted to shake me off but I could see my tracer striking his aircraft and I closed in. I remember at one stage being concerned that there was a village in my line of fire. He had nowhere to go but down and eventually force-landed in a field. I flew low over the site. The German was soon apprehended, initially by the unarmed cook from the local searchlight battery!"
This relates to the well supported, but unproved, story that he was the one who shot down Leutnant Franz von Werra – the only German POW ever to escape from British custody (in Canada) and make it home. This was the subject of the Hardy Kruger film “The One That Got Away”. He was not officially credited with the kill but he was flying this aircraft at the time.
On 8th April 1941 it was re-issued to 57 Operational Training Unit at RAF Hawarden, Flintshire where it appears to have suffered unknown damage which caused it to be returned to the factory yet again. In September 1942 the unit moved to RAF Eshott in Northumberland and, in December 1942, it suffered further damage but was quickly repaired and back in action.
On 9th April 1943, piloted by an Australian, Sgt Theo Gilson Ross, the plane crashed, and was totally destroyed, at Fairley Farm, Kiln Pit Hill, Northumberland; the pilot was killed and is buried in the churchyard of St Mary at Stamfordham in Northumberland.
In a private publication, Alan Storr – a former WW2 Australian airman – wrote the following:
On the 9th April 1943, Spitfire N3196 took off from RAF Ouston to carry out a day flight training. During the flight the aircraft was engaged in a height climb, and was last seen doing aerobatics, Eye witnesses were of the opinion that the Pilot executed aerobatics at no great altitude and finally stalled for reasons unknown. The aircraft crashed into the sea near Fairlie Farm, Shotley Bridge, one and a half miles west of Whittonstall, Northumberland, and the Pilot was killed.”
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