Spitfire MK IX - EN570 - 611 Sqdn of Lucheux

Texts by Pierre Ben and JP Ducellier - layout by Michel Lespagnol

The Pilot of the Spitfire LF Mk IX, EN 570, Squadron 611

Pierre BEN

Flight Officer Gordon Rowland LINDSAY died in the crash, he was then 24 years old. He was the son of Arthur and Doris Lindsay of Whestone, Middlesex, England. He is buried in Saint Pierre cemetery in Amiens, row 1, grave n°13.

Gordon Lindsay on the left with "Pointures"

FROM THE INVESTIGATION TO THE EXCAVATION OF THE SPITFIRE IX IN 570 FY-J OF SQUADRON 611

Pierre BEN

I was contacted in June 2013 by the gardener of the castle of Occoches, following an article published in the press on the arrival of Piotr Kuryllowicz, pilot of the Spitfire crashed at Occoches. The latter had found aluminium around a small crater in the Robermont wood, near the Villa Marguerite, a wood adjacent to the Lucheux forest. Of course, for more than ten years, this plane crash had been in our archives, but it is practically impossible to search for debris in a forest, given the surface area.

With Mr. Pruvost's clues, the search was going to be much easier. So in June 2013 we went to the site and indeed the crater was still visible, although partially filled in with plant debris dumped by a grain merchant from Lucheux. Moreover, this debris gave off a very nauseating odor during the excavation and hardly bearable!!!

After having obtained the necessary authorizations, the excavation took place on July 10th.

Our crane operator, Gérald Frion, after having given a few blows with buckets, reassembled the relatively well preserved aluminum structural parts, fuselage sheet metal, engine frame tubes, the intercooler radiator in good condition, the shielding plate of the glycol radiator and the magnificent Merlin 66 Rolls Royce. Then he removed the propeller hub complete with the propeller pitch control mechanism still with its original oil!!! No part had burned. Only the lower engine casing was damaged, the Spitfire had hit a big tree during the crash. The upper part was absolutely intact, moreover, during the cleaning, we unbolted the rocker covers in order to present the rocker arm still in new condition.

The Spitfire LF IX serial EN 570, FY-J

JP Touzeau & Pierre BEN

Issued from an order for 300 Mk V Spitfires placed on August 23, 1941, the Spitfire EN 570 c/n°4181 was finally sent to the Rolls Royce factory in Hucknall to be upgraded to Mk IX standard, with among other things the installation of a Merlin 66 with a double-stage compressor. No less than 4008 Spitfire LF Mk IX were assembled with this engine model, one of the particularities of which was the introduction of American Bendix-Stromberg anti-G carburetors, which allowed for negative G maneuvers at low altitude, Its first flight was made on April 3, 1943, the EN570 was sent 5 days later to the 15th Maintenance Unit, then on April 21 it joined the 76th Maintenance Unit before being transferred on May 15, 1943 to Squadron 611 of Biggin Hill, where it received the FY-J codes. EN 570 was credited with two victories with F/Lt Vernon A. Lancaster, on May 17, 1943 over a Messerscmitt Bf 109 and on May 30 over a Fock-Wulf 190, and remained in an operational squadron for only 27 days.