Name: McNAMARA, JOHN FREDERICK Initials: J F Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Sergeant (Pilot) Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Age: 21 Date of Death: 25/09/1942 Service No: 1314971 Additional information: Son of John and Maud Beatrice McNamara, of Barton Hill, Bristol. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: (Screen Wall). Plot Pink. S. Grave. Cemetery: BRISTOL (GREENBANK) CEMETERY
Thanks to Henk Welting on rafcommands, it seems that the most likely candidate for the aircraft lost was Spifire X4234 of 57 OTU
Mk 1a, Andy First Flight 15-8-40 8 MU 16-8-40 609 Squadron 24-8-40 damaged combat P/O Staples safe 27-9-40 Air Service Training 66 Squadron 13-10-40 57 OTU 1-11-40 Flying Accident Cat B 27-6-42 Wing failure in spin crashed Alsager Cheshire CE 25-9-42 (McNamara's crash) Seems that rather than changing the wing for a 1b (and it was probably one of the last 1a productions considering it first flew in Aug 1940) , it was relegated to training use for most of its life. I've seen some references to its claims by different pilots with 609 - will dig them out tomorrow.
