I have yet to find many documentary sources to cross reference to compile this webpage but will attempt to display the details of what I have found.
At 11.35hrs on 25th January 1942 the pilot of this aircraft had taken off with a second 122 Squadron aircraft, Spitfire BL237, to undertake a convoy patrol off the Yorkshire Coast as a pair and probably flying in formation. The area of the patrol was listed in the squadron records as being "yellow sector" but does not record precisely where this was. While 122 Squadron were based at Scorton airfield many of these patrols were begun from a temporary forward base at Thornaby airfield following staging flights from Scorton to Thornaby and this may have been the case with this flight although the staging flight is not listed in the squadron record book. At 12.15hrs the pilot of the other Spitfire BL237, F/Lt Day, made a safe landing at base on completing of his part of the patrol but Spitfire AD545 did land with him and was listed as missing in the squadron record book. What appears to have happened is that while returning to base following the patrol Spitfire AD545 was flown across the North York Moors and at the time it is believed that the high ground was shrouded in low cloud and probably also had a covering on snow on the moorland. When the aircraft failed to return to base the pilot was initially recorded as missing. Searches were also probably carried out from the air when the weather improved but nothing was found.
On 17th March 1942 Rosedale farmer Mr Stan Sturdy, who lived at Thorgill House, found a damaged Spitfire in a snow covered gully on the moorland above Thorgill at around 1,100 feet above sea level. It was discovered that this was the missing Spitfire AD545. The pilot was thought to have survived the crash but had sustained injuries including two broken legs and was unable to leave the area of his machine. By the time he was located some six weeks later by Mr Sturdy he had died. His body was recovered from the site and buried in Stilton, Cambridgeshire on 27th March 1942 withe pilot of the other Spitfire he was flying with in attendance. A North Riding police record listed they attended the site on the day it was found and RAF records that members of 60 M.U. recovered the wreckage with their O.R.B. stating two weeks later that on "30th March 1942, Spitfire reported missing 25th January 1942 discovered by shepherd on Spaunton Moor on 18th March 1942. Police guides required to find aircraft at 1,100 feet. Two bogs had to be crossed." I know the wider area of where I the police quote the aircraft as being found reasonably well and the "two bogs" referenced is hard to relate to what is on the ground. One bog is probably the large one near Thorgill Head, but the second? Access to much of the moorland around Rosedale would have been very easy in 1942 as the trackbed of the former ironstone mining railway would have been available to be used by any RAF team accessing the site and this would probably rule out hugh distances of open moorland to be crossed before reaching the site. Despite many searches for where this aircraft crashed I have yet to find the location.
I have attempted to locate further original documentary evidence relating to this incident but to date have yet to have much success. The RAF's Am1180 accident record card for this incident is not available as the RAF Museum state the card was not created because the aircraft was lost due to a "flying battle" which as a result has no AM1180. Other un-cited references to the accident state it "dived into the ground out of cloud". I personally believe if it is correct that the pilot had initially survived the crash and broken both his legs this would suggest the aircraft crashed into high ground in reasonably level flight and this would suggest the terrain was reasonable flat around the crash location. If it dived into the ground as also suggested it would be very unlikely for the pilot not to have been killed in the impact. His death was recorded as having occurred on the day the aircraft crashed, ie, 25th January 1942.
Spitfire AD545 was a MkVb model and was built to contract B981687/39 by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd at Castle Bromwich and was flown to 24 MU at Ternhill on 26th October 1941. After RAF acceptance it was issued to 122 Squadron at Scorton 15th November 1941. It was written off following the incident detailed above with Cat.Em damage initially being recorded and this would have later been changed to Cat.E2/FA damage once it was found.
Pilot - P/O John Michael Fisher RAFVR (102556), aged 23. Buried Stilton Cemetery, Cambridgeshire.
>
John Fisher was born in the Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in September 1918 and was the son of Rev.Thomas Frederic Fisher BA and Edith Marion Fisher (nee Jones). His parents had married in Monmouthshire while his father was a curate near Newport. By 1918 his father was vicar at Holme, Cambridgeshire when John was born and the family then moved the short distance to Stilton in 1927 when his father became vicar of the parish there. John Fisher attended The King's School, Peterborough from 1932 to 1937 where he was head boy and excelled in sport. He then studied at Selwyn College, Cambridge gained a Bachelor of Arts degree and had intended to follow his father into the Church. By the time he was to begin his studies at Salisbury Theological College the Second World War had begun so enlisted for RAFVR service instead. He trained as a pilot in Canada and received a commission to the rank of P/O on probation on 22nd June 1941 probably on the same date he received his Pilot's Wings. He is recorded in the 122 Squadron ORB's as flying operationally with them as far back as October 1941. By the time the CWGC compiled their records his parents had moved to Llangrove, Herefordshire where his father was the vicar of the parish church. John Fisher is commemorated the Stilton village war memorial and also on a memorial for former King's School pupils in Peterborough Cathedral. I credit research carried out by Jane King on former pupils of King's School in creating this biography.
His sister Vronwy Fisher married Hon. Henry Arthur Alers Hankey, son of Lord and Lady Hankey, at Stilton in January 1941.
His brother Lt T W C Fisher RN was awarded the DSC for gallant service on escort duties in 1945.
Parts of the underside of a Spitfire were found in a Thorgill garden in 2009 when the area was being landscaped, the area dug over is believed to have been a farm tip some years ago previously and the aircraft parts were discarded in it before being covered in topsoil. It seems likely that these parts were attached to an aircraft which looks to have been involved in some form of accident and given the close proximity to the crash area of AD545 I am linking the parts as being from Spitfire AD545. The photograph above is believed to show a large part of the radiator intake. The photograph below shows a large inspection stamping on this piece showing the "VACB" stamp refering to the Vickers Aircraft factory at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.
The photographs below show a flap section from one of the aircraft's wings which still bares the light blue/grey paint on the outer surface, also shown is a part number sequence shown on one piece of this flap section.
