Hurricane P3351 near Headingley, Leeds.
On 9th September 1941 the radiator of this No.55 Operational Training Flight aircraft overheated in the Leeds area while the pilot was on a training flight, the pilot
force-landed in a field with the undercarriage retracted near Ireland Wood, Weetwood Farm, Headingley at 18.30hrs. It was felt that the pilot could have made it to Yeadon airfield which was just half a mile from where the forced landing was made, he may well have been taken on fighter training after this incident.
Pilot - Sgt Ness G Polson RNZAF (NZ.404406), of Invercargill, New Zealand. Uninjured.
Hurricane P3351 was built to contract 962371/38 by The Hawker Aircraft Co. Ltd. at Brooklands and was delivered to the RAF on 1st June
1940 to 73 Squadron who were based at Goye, France at the time and it was as a replacement for losses sustained during the Battle of France.
It was flown to various airfields in France over the coming weeks, on 3rd June 1940 it flew to a new base at Echemines then four days later
with the unit to Raudin, on 15th June 1940 it was flown to Nantes from where the unit evacuated back to the UK, they officially took up
residence at Church Fenton on 18th June 1940 but P3351 was part of 'A' Flight of 73 Squadron which was transferred to Prestwick on 19th
July 1940 for night fighter training, two days later it was damaged when it undershot a landing at Prestwick at night causing the undercarriage
to collapse and the aircraft to tip on it's nose. Cat.M/FA damage was the assessment and it was repaired on site. On completion of the repair
it was transferred to 32 Squadron at Acklington in September 1940 and on 16th December 1940 it moved with the squadron to Middle Wallop. On
21st December 1940 it was transferred to 71 'Eagle' Squadron at Martlesham Heath, on 10th March 1941 it crashed on landing at Martlesham Heath
after a patrol over the North Sea. Cat.A/FA damage was recorded the aircraft repaired on site, on completion of the repair it was transferred
to 55 OTU at Usworth during the first week of May 1941. On 13th May 1941 it flew into HT cables damaging a wing leading edge and the pilot Sgt
Stanislaw Karubin PAF was forced to make an emergency landing at Ouston (Sgt Karubin would later be killed in a flying accident in the Lake District),
as a result of this incident in May 1941 he was unhurt and the aircraft sustained Cat.A/FA damage and was again repaired on site with the aircraft
being returned to the unit on completion of repair. As a result of this incident near Headlingley on 9th September 1941 Cat.B/FA damage was recorded,
it was dismantled and transported by road for repair in works and during this repair it was converted to a Mk.IIA and then given the serial DR393.
On 26th January 1942 it was taken by road to Glasgow Docks where it was packed and on 3rd May 1942 it sailed on S.S.Ocean Voice bound for Murmansk,
Russia and is know to have served with the Russian Air Force in the Murmansk area where the aircraft crashed during the winter of 1943. It appears
to have been left in a crashed state where it remained for nearly fifty years until the wreck was recovered 1991 and purchased by Sir Tim Wallis of
Wanaka, New Zealand, where it was registered as ZK-TPX. Between 1992 and 2000 the aircraft was rebuilt under the control of Hawker Restorations Ltd.
at Sudbury, UK and in late 1999 it was delivered to Christchurch, New Zealand for erection and the first post-rebuild flight which took place on 12th
January 2000. It was the only Battle of Britain Hurricane still flying at that date and was up for sale in late-2009 at over one million pounds. The aircraft was offered for sale a number of times being purchased by a French owner and shipped to France on 10th February 2013. On 30th March 2013 it arrived at Le Havre from where it went to Aero Restorations, Dijon for assembly and on 14th May 2013 it was registered F-AZXR on the French register.