On the 7th September 1940

F/Lt. R E Lovett DFC

aged 26 years killed

 73 Squadron Debden

Hawker Hurricane P3234, Coded TP-E

Crashed at

Stock

Essex

England

info@aviationmuseum.co.uk

Battle of France Veteran at Stock.

During the Battle of Britain, Saturday, 7th September 1940 was the day the Luftwaffe switched its aerial offensive from attacks on RAF Fighter Command airfields to a direct assault on London. Soon after 5.00pm a big air battle developed around Billericay as RAF fighters attempted to stem the flow of German raiders.

In the nearby village of Stock it has become local legend that on that day a cricket match between a team from the village and one from the Mildmay Ironworks, which had continued on the common despite the fighting overhead, was suddenly interrupted as a roaring Hurricane fighter swept down over the cricket ground, heading straight for the heart of the village, before turning sharply to the left at the last moment and disintegrating in a streak of flame along a meadow behind the Roman Catholic School in Mill Road.

The aircraft, serial number P3234, coded TP-E of 73 Squadron was being flown by Flight Lieutenant Reginald Eric Lovett a decorated veteran of the Battle of France who had already recovered from serious burns after being shot down and force landing earlier in the war, and survived a parachute descent near Wickford after a Spitfire collided with his Hurricane only two days previously on 5th September. 

Some witnesses believed that in those last seconds before the fatal crash Lovett saved the village by deliberately banking the aircraft away, whether that is true can never be known but it would be characteristic of an undoubtedly brave man who one colleague said was known to be kindly, conscientious, meticulous and scrupulously fair despite an outwardly stiff and reserved exterior

On the afternoon of 7th September, nine Hurricanes of 73 Squadron were scrambled from Castle Camps at 4.51pm flying in three sections, with Lovett leading red section. When they saw the enemy the 6 Hurricanes of red and yellow sections were ordered to engage the bombers while blue section took on the escorting Me 110’s seen hovering above. Before blue section could gain enough height to intercept the escorts some Me110’s were able to dive directly onto red section. 

Lovett’s number 2, Sergeant Alfred Marshall, reported that as his section closed in to attack the bombers from below they were climbing so steeply that he stalled and spun off, losing sight of his leader. Flying Hurricane P3863 coded TP-C Marshall eventually belly landed his oil covered aircraft near Burnham on Crouch after it was damaged later in the combat and the engine failed.

Flight Lieutenant Michael Beytagh leading yellow section saw an Me 110 diving on Lovett and red section as they attacked a formation of Heinkel 111’s from below. Beytagh immediately engaged the ‘110 and shot it down, but like Sergeant Marshall did not see what happened to Lovett.

When he failed to return to base Lovett was reported missing having been last seen in the Billericay district at about 5.25 pm. According to the Squadron Intelligence report for the day ‘....since when nothing has been heard. If only we could hear something of him the tension would be lifted. The uncertainty of his fate troubles us all.’

Despite the fact that Lovett’s body was recovered from his wrecked and burned Hurricane at Stock, identified and conveyed to St Andrews Hospital Billericay immediately after the crash on 7th September that information did not reach 73 Squadron or his parents until 14th September 1940, by which time the wreckage of his aircraft had already been collected by an RAF Maintenance Unit.

Reg Lovett’s funeral took place at St Judes Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb on 17th September 1940, he was 26 years old.

In 1994, as a permanent tribute to Flight Lieutenant Reginald Eric Lovett DFC a commemorative plaque dedicated to him was unveiled in the porch of the former Roman Catholic School, now the Roman Catholic Church, at Stock.

There are striking similarities between accounts of Lovett’s loss by pilot’s of 73 Squadron and a post war narrative by Gerhard Granz, a Messerschmitt 110 pilot of ZG2, who was shot down over Billericay on 7th September and captured. Granz said:

‘I saw a British fighter zoom up from below and attack a Heinkel 111 and I went into a diving turn to fire at the British aircraft; I hit it, observing smoke coming from its tail, and it went down in flames. But suddenly I was surrounded by Hurricanes, and one opened fire from behind, the bullets passing each side of my head and out through the front cockpit. My 110 caught fire and dived vertically. I ordered Fw Willi Schutel, my gunner, to jump, and after he had departed tried to follow suit. However, my parachute got stuck in the cockpit, so I took hold of the controls again and turned the blazing aircraft onto its back, fell out at about 500 feet and frantically pulled the ripcord - just in time, as I almost immediately landed in a tree, to be met by two helmeted home guards who appeared from behind a hedge.’

Robin Hill 2020.