Unidentified Spitfire near Scarborough.
The date of this incident is unknown. The first known photograph of the incident appeared in a newspaper on 12th July 1939 so the incident probably occurred between 9th and 11th July 1939. The 41 Squadron aeroplane was based at Catterick, during a night exercise it ran out of fuel so the pilot landed in a cornfield between East Ayton and Scarborough without damage. The aeroplane was manhandled onto the main road, then hauled up what is known locally as racecourse road and into what was the old racecourse aerodrome site. Here it was later refuelled and flown out. The old racecourse site was previously used as an aerodrome site so was probably a logical location to take the aeroplane to. Unfortunately the 41 Squadron records and also the Catterick airfield record book does not record the incident. I had initially believed that the date may have been over the night of 13th - 14th July 1939 what No.12 Group undertook defence exercises though poor weather effected the success of them in our area. Given a photograph appeared in a newspaper before this date it cannot have been on this exercise.
Pilot - Name unknown.