Sqn Ldr Starr 253 Sqdn RAF Kenley

[Cornerstone958]

Sqn Ldr Starr was shot down and killed on 31 Aug 1940.
It is alleged that he was shot after bailing out and fell beside his aircraft.
The local RAFA Branch wish to place a wreath on his grave in Swindon and the local paper will be writing a short article relating to the event.
I have attempted to find the details myself but apart from his death being reported thats all.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thanks
CS

[Rakshasa]

You may want to try Tom Gleave's autobiography. I Had a Row With a German.

Gleave was OC 253 Squadron (Hurricanes) and was due to be posted away and replaced by Starr when Starr was murdered.

Gleave himself was shot down the same day but baled out uninjured... only to be shot down again and badly burnt a few days later.

[Cornerstone958]

Thanks for that will lookc in the Libray for a copy.
Any further leads or info would be appreciated
CS

[sitigeltfel]

Patrick Bishops book, Fighter Boys, has the sentence...

"Squadron Leader Harold Starr was certainly machine gunned to death by a Messerschmitt after he baled out over Eastry in Kent on 31 August."

Unfortunately he does not give a source for the allegation.

[smallonions]

There is also a reference to it by Peter Townsend in "Duel of Eagles" but IIRC there is no source quoted there either.

[DC10RealMan]

On page 399 of the book "Battle of Britain-Then and now" by Winston G Ramsey the entry is as follows
253 Squadron, RAF Kenley
Hurricane L1830
Shot down by enemy fighters on squadron interception patrol.
Believed crashed near Grove Ferry at 8:25am
Squadron Leader H.M. Starr fell dead at Hamill Brickworks near Eastry.
Aircraft a write-off.

I believe that it is in the Geneva Convention that pilots can open fire on an airman on a parachute if that airman will land on home soil and be returned to his unit to continue the fight. I know of Sgt Leslie Pidd who was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain who was also killed in such circumstances.
I also remember reading about a young Luftwaffe pilot who told his Commanding Officer Adolf Galland that he had done such a thing only to be slapped by Galland and immediately posted from the Luftwaffe squadron to another unit.

[Cornerstone958]

Thanks to all for the information research starts AM!
CS

[DC10RealMan]

Cornerstone.

There is an excellent photograph of Squadron Leader Starr on page iii of the preface of the book Battle of Britain-Then and Now