SP(BB)33 Flight Lieutenant Gordon Parkin

After converting to Hurricanes, Parkin was posted to France to join 501 Squadron. In mid-June the squadron prepared to evacuate France. The squadron reassembled at Croydon on the 2lst. In the late evening of July 31 1940 the squadron took off from Hawkinge to return to Gravesend, but his aircraft had a starting problem and he took off late. Arriving at Gravesend in failing light he undershot the runway and touched coiled barbed wire on the boundary which caused the Hurricane to inverted. Badly injured he was admitted to Gravesend Hospital, later transferred to Halton and did not rejoin 501 until February 5 1941. With a non-operational category, he was posted away for an instructor's course on April 16 1941 and was instructing until the end of the war.

Flight Lieutenant Eric Gordon Parkin
Hand signed 5in x 7in photograph - numbered and certified on reverse.