Spitfire at Catterick airfield.
On the 2nd of May 1941 this unidentified Spitfire made a crash landing at Catterick airfield, the aircraft may have been suffering engine trouble and it
struck a hedge on approach to land, the pilot landed with the wheels up on the airfield.
One aircraft identity is suggested, that of P8144, but this identity I believe is incorrect. Nothing more is known.
Pilot - P/O Aubrey C Baker RAF (64892), uninjured.
He survived the War. He left the RAF in 1946 and died in 1978.
The name of the pilot also quoted for this mishap at Catterick is "Sgt Baker", there was only one Baker flying with 41 Squadron on this date so with respect
P/O Aubrey Baker is our man.
41 Squadron historian Mr Steve Brew reports that Aubrey Baker joined the RAF in 1935 as ground crew but he was accepted for pilot training in 1939
and later commissioned in April 1941. He had flown with 610 Squadron in the Battle of Britain and was later posted to 41 Squadron, later in May 1941 he was posted to 112 Squadron where
he was awarded the DFC with this squadron in December 1942.