Hurricane V7201 near Barnard Castle (possibly occurred outside Yorkshire).
When the pilot became lost on 11th June 1941 this No.55 Operational Training Unit aircraft was force landed in a cornfield, with the wheels down, in the region of Barnard Castle. The pilot was not injured despite the aircraft overturning. Where this incident occurred is not known and it may well have occurred just outside of the Yorkshire boundary as the records gives only a basic location.
Pilot - Sgt Charles Napoleon Valiquet RCAF (R/10251), of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Charles "Nap" Valiquet was the son of Charles and Jane Stewart Valiquet, of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada. He initially enlisted into the RCAF
as a mechanic and gained his private pilot licence around the same time after being refused RCAF pilot training. After gaining his PPL he was accepted
for pilot training in the RCAF and was later posted to England to continue his training. WO1 Valiquet was lost on 9th May 1942 while serving with 41
Squadron in Malta and is commemorated on the Runnymede memorial. He was twenty one years old. It is believed that his Spitfire collided with another
of his unit while on a ferry flight and possibly while attacking an Italian float-plane. His mother was living in Verdun, Quebec when WO1 Valiquet died.
His brother Victor Valiquet served in the Air Transport Command.
Hurricane V7201 was built to contract 62305/39 by The Hawker Aircraft Company Ltd. at their Langley factory and was awaiting collection on 2nd
July 1940. After a short period of storage it was taken on charge by the RAF in August 1940 by 46 Squadron at Digby and on 1st September 1940 it
moved with tthe unit to Stapleford Tawney. On 4th September 1940 it sustained Cat.R/FB damage when it was one of four Hurricanes either shot down
or crashed as a result to combat with Bf109's. This aircraft was force landed near Heybridge with the undercarriage damaged after action over
Rochford at 13.40hrs. The then pilot P/O R.H. Barber was admitted to Epping Hospital with a fractured jaw and neck. The aircraft must have been
fairly badly damaged as it was taken away by road and repaired in works. On or about the 22nd November 1940 it was taken on charge by the newly
formed 260 Squadron at Castletown and on 5th December 1940 it moved with the unit to Skitten then back to Castleton on 7th January 1941 before
moving back to Skitten on 10th February 1941 with the unit. In April 1941 it was transferred to 55 OTU at Usworth. As a result of the landing on
11th June 1941 near Barnard Castle it must have hardly been damaged at all and Cat.U/FA was the probably damage scale. Possibly as the aircraft
could not be flown out of the field it was dismantled on site and transported by road to Hawker Aircraft Ltd. at Kingston for rebuild and repair.
In August 1941 it was taken on charge by (S)FPP at Kemble, on 1st October 1941 this unit was re-designated the FTU, on 11th November 1941 it moved
with this unit to Honeybourne. On an unknown date in 1942 it transferred to 55 OTU at Annan but by the end of 1943 it was placed into MU storage
awaiting disposal. It was struck off charge on 27th May 1944.