Recovered British Aircraft in India.

Troy can you confirm that you are ruling out the Canadian built Mk1/MkX out?

 

I have played around with the contrast and there do appear to be two parallel white rectangles, there also appears to be a name slightly above and to the riight, comprising one initial letter and a much longer name.



I am not convinced that the letter on the fuselage is a W as it looks to be a little narrow.

 

A close up of the nose section.

 

Not trying to rule anything out. The 4 photos of the same Hurricane being recovered are hard to make out quite what mark it is as there is someone standing in the way of making a positive mark identification. It could even be a Mk.IIb, with fabric doped over the outer gun ports and ejector slots, note the partly doped over inner ejector slots, and the neatly painted gun port fabric, implying this is likely a 2nd line aircraft. The image you linked to on RAF commands RAFCommands Website of W9349 is a very interesting photo, as it's a SEAC Mk.I with a Rotol prop, so it could be a Mk.I as well. The caption may explain this " It was only towards the second quarter did some late Mark 1s were sent to OTU at Risalpur for Operational Conversion Training. W9349 is one such rare Mark 1 that ended up for OTU training - and is seen at Kohat."
So while the De Havilland spinner was usual on front line tropical Mk.I's, it may not have been on one used in 2nd line duties, though when R4118 was recovered from India it had a DH prop fitted.
Sorry of this is confusing, just trying to extract as much information from the photos as possible. The first Hurricane picture Simon posted is definitely a Mk.I with a De Havilland prop and no rectangular hatch on the starboard side.

 

Does anyone have any information on a Hudson III with the serial number V9190?

 

From Air Britain: 16.7.1942 Crashed in sea near Cuttack. Engine failure . from 62 Squadron

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8452699#imageViewerLink
"While on a Training Flight, one of our aircraft V9190 force landed on the bank of the Mahanadi River. There were no casualties and an account of the return of the crew is given in Appendix 1"

 

Many thanks, just what I was looking for.

 

Is it possible to identify an aircraft just from its squadron code and aircraft letter? This is a Blenheim of 60 Squadron. MU H.
There are 19 possible contenders between March 1942 and January 1943.

 

Only bit to add is that 60 Sqn Blenheims were near Trichy around June 1943. They were withdrawn from Burma front around mid of May and proceeded to Bangalore/Yelahanka then Trichy before equipping with Hurricanes in July. So its a very narrow window..

 

Very useful information, thank you. I am not sure if this particular photograph depicts the result of an incident or is a routine repair.
As these photographs all came together in one lot, I am sure that the connection is with the R.S.U. rather than a R.A.F. Squadron.

It is unfortunate that the Squadron records report the incidents but make no mention of which R.S.U. came to salvage or remove the wreckage, perhaps they had no knowledge of the unit or it is recorded elsewhere.

 

The only two possibilities are 121 RSU (Trichnopoly) and 127 RSU (Arakonam).. I have seen references to 127 RSU in the ORB of 1 IAF Squadron so that's one unit that handled Hurricanes..

Looking up the unit lineage

Trichnopoly
121 RSU (May 42) ---Disbanded and Replaced by --> 5 RSS (Sept 43) ---Renamed to---> 138 RSU (Dec 43)

Arakonam
127 RSU (Oct 42) ---Disbanded and Replaced by --> 6 RSS(Oct 43) ---Renamed to--->139 RSU (Dec43)


ORB links
127 RSU - 127 Repair and Salvage Unit, Arkonam, India (RSU) | The National Archives (AIR29/806)
127 RSU/6RSS - 127 Repair and Salvage Unit, Arkonam, India; disbanded October 1942 and reformed as 6... | The National Archives (AIR29/784/6)
5 RSS / 138 RSU - 5 Repair and Salvage Section, later 138 Repair and Salvage Unit; based at Trichinopoly,... | The National Archives (AIR29/807)
6 RSS / 139 RSU - 6 Repair and Salvage Section, later 139 Repair and Salvage Unit; based at Arkonam,... | The National Archives (AIR29/807)

There is no ORB for the 121 RSU period prior to Sept 43

 

Thank you that is interesting especially the mention of a national archive document.