AR banner
search tips advanced search

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the AddInfo button, or send us email from the Helpdesk.
71 Squadron Crest
12.04.1942 No. 71 Squadron Spitfire Vb AB810 P/O. Ben F. Mays

Operation: Circus 122

Date: 12th April 1942 Sunday)

Unit:: 71 Squadron (Eagle)

Type: Spitfire Vb

Serial: AB810

Code: XR-?

Base: RAF Martlesham Heath

Location: South East of Saint-Omer, France

Pilot: P/O. Ben Freeman Mays 106509 RAFVR Age 29. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Circus 122 to Hazebrouck Marshalling Yards. Shot down at 13.34 hrs. by Fw190 from 7/JG26, flown by Oblt. Mietusch his 15th Victory.

After a lone attack on No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron. Oblt. Mietusch dove behind the Spitfire formation, zoomed up and fired a short burst at the rear aircraft in a flight of four, half-rolled, and dove away. The Spitfire, it's pilot probably dead, entered a steep dive and crashed.

American 71 Squadron pilots taken the year previous - showing the Hurricanes that they initially used (IWM)

BURIAL DETAILS:

P/O. Ben Freeman Mays. Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery (Saint-Omer), France. Plot 8. Row A. Grave 22. Son of Edgar Elmo and Delia Elizabeth Mays, of Wharton, Texas, USA.

KTY - 30-12-2016

Acknowledgements: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives and Fred Paradie - Paradie Archive (both on this site), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2017 Last Modified: 30 December 2016, 20:59

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor