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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.
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197 Squadron crest
14.07.1944 No. 197 Squadron Typhoon Ib MN209 DV-A F/O. Trott

Operation: Patrol

Date: 14th July 1944

Unit: No. 197 Squadron

Type: Typhoon Ib

Serial: MN209

Code: DV-A

Base: ALG B.15, Normandy, France

Location: Pont-l'Evéque, France

Pilot: F/O. Kenneth Albert John Trott RAFVR Age 22. PoW. Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria.

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the evening of July 13th that year, four Typhoons of No 197 Squadron took off from an advanced landing ground in Normandy to carry out an armed reconnaissance sortie near Caen. Trott and his number two strafed an armoured vehicle, and were rejoining their two colleagues when a large force of Messerschmitt Bf109s of JG1 attacked.

                                           

Pilot: F/O. Kenneth Albert John Trott

F/O. Trott saw one of the enemy aircraft approaching him, and made a head-on attack firing his cannons. As he broke away, the starboard wing of his Typhoon struck the Bf 109. In the collision his head and shoulder struck the side of the fuselage as the canopy disappeared, his helmet, oxygen mask and goggles were torn off him, and he was catapulted into the air with only his parachute intact. 

Having succeeded in pulling the ripcord, Trott lost consciousness. He woke up to find himself suspended from a tree and surrounded by armed German soldiers. He spent the rest of the war as a PoW, much of the time in the hospital at Stalag Luft III.

Right: 197 Squadron Typhoon IB

Burial Details:

None, F/O. Trott survived - he passed away on September 12th 2013 Age 90. Further information: Awarded Pilot's Wings October 1942. Joined 195 Squadron (Typhoons) from April 1943 to January 1944. Joined 197 Squadron in February 1944. Became PoW July 1944, released May 1945. Became air traffic controller at RAF Tangmere until demobbed in 1946. Wife of Kathleen (nee Jordan).

Researched for relatives of the pilot with thanks to the following for further information, Daily Telegraph, Norman L.R. Franks - 'Fighter Command Losses Vol 3', 197 Squadron, Aircrew Remembered own archives.

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, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), 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', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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