Questions about P. R. Eyles. 92 Squadron. B of B Pilot

Hello to you all. My name is Duane and i have always loved aircraft and flying. My God father is a gliding instructor and taught me to fly. My most memorable powered flight was at the controls of an Auster out of Sywell, Northamptonshire.
Many years ago, as a child, my mother had told me that her uncle had been involved in the B of B but the details were few. Before she died recently she asked me to do two things for her, 1. To find out all i could about her Uncle, sergeant Peter Raoul Eyles who went missing while flying a Spitfire when she was a very small child. 2. when she died i was to place in her coffin a small metal model of a mark one Spitfire that she had owned for as long as i could remember.
The second request i fulfilled. The first one has been very interesting. He was a pilot with 92 squadron, Biggin Hill, but was lost on the 20th September 1940 over the channel. Amazingly, while searching the internet, his name found a link to an auction site, where last April his medals and a letter confirming his death were sold, if only i knew who had purchased them ! I visited Runnemede last Sunday and found his name and then went on to visit Biggin Hill airfield. I would love to know so much more and would also love to see a photograph of him and his Spitfire, N3248. Thanks so much for reading. Duane.

 

welcome to the forum

please find attached a panel from Runnymede Memorial with Sergeant PETER RAOUL EYLES name


Sergeant PETER RAOUL EYLES

565889, 92 Sqdn., Royal Air Force
who died age 24
on 20 September 1940
Son of Ralph Sidney and Grace Elizabeth Eyles, of Hook, Basingstoke, Hampshire.
Remembered with honour
RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL

also on Roll of Honour - Surrey - Windlesham

Sergeant PETER RAOUL EYLES 560889, 92 Sqdn., Royal Air Force. Died aged 24 on 20 March 1940. Son of Ralph Sidney and Grace Elizabeth Eyles, of Hook, Basingstoke, Hampshire. Peter Eyles was a pre-war airman. On the day of his death his Spitfire N3248 was shot down by Major Werner Molders of JG 51. Eyles crashed into the English Channel off Dungeness. Pilot Officer H P Hill in another Spitfire was lost in the same engagement. Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

 

Hi Duane,

Thanks for telling us more about your search hopefully some of our B of B specialists will be along soon to help (I see you have already met CL1 !)

One thing that might be worth doing is to add more info to the title of this thread to draw the attention of the RAF speciallists. To do this you need to edit your first post in this thread, then press "go advanced" (this lets you edit the tite as well) and then add something like "questions about P. R Eyles, 92 squadron, Battle of Britain" or something a bit snappier!

Anyway, good luck with your search and I hope our experts can be of help. Please keep us informed of anything else you find out.

Best wishes

Andy

 

Funnily enough my dad used to work with the 92 Sqn Phantoms when we were in Germany!!!
Dee

 

Duane,

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Good luck with your research and I am sure that you will receive plenty of help from the forum members.

Regards
Tom

 

Hello and welcome.

 

Hi Duane and welcome.

The following is from Men of the Battle of Britain by K Wynn.

Eyles of Basingstoke, joined the RAF as an Aircraft Apprentice in September 1932 and passed out in August 1935. He later applied for pilot training an was selected.
Eyles completed his training at 11 FTS, Shawbury and he joined 92 Squadron at Tangmere on October 23 1939.
Over Dunkirk on June 2 1940, Eyles damaged a He 111. He claimed a He 111 destroyed on September 11. He was shot down on the 20th by Major Molders of JG 51. His Spitfire, N3248 went into the Channel off Dungness and Eyles was reported 'Missing'. He was 24 and is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 14.
The Combat report for the 11th September is available to download from TNA.

The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details

The attached photograph show Sgt Eyles on the right, F/Sgt Payne (left) and John Bryson (centre). From 'First Light' by Geoffrey Wellum.

 

Wow !! That is fantastic. I never thought i would see a picture of him so quickly. Thank you so much to all. A picture of N3248, Q J - ? would be out of this world.

 

Peter Eyles is mentioned for a few pages in the book Fly For Your Life, flying under the command of Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck.

 

Hi Duane,
i have just stumbled on your 9yr old post whilst doing some research on a spitfire from 92 squadron. I was involved in digging up a crashed spitfire as a 13yr old lad in 1981. I belonged to the 390th memorial air museum at Parham airfield near Framlingham Suffolk. we helped to recover the remains of Supermarine Spifire P9548 which crashed on 27.08.1940. It belonged to 92 Squadron and had taken off from Bibury near Cirencester on a night patrol flown by P/O Hargreaves. He got lost and had to bale out when he ran out of fuel. We recovered the engine, and everything from just behind the cockpit was compressed into about 12" of metal! I recently found a small part of the engine crankcase in my shed which ignited my curiosity again. On researching it's history i found out that it had been flown by 10 pilots from 92 Squadron at various times including Sgt Eyles!! As far as i can tell he clocked up about 9.5 flying hours on various duties in this plane (no pilot had their own aircraft). I remember that the some of the cockpit area was reassembled very carefully around a wooden frame. I think that there was part of the control column and throttles instruments etc. It was on display at the museum in the early 1980's but i have not been there since then so not sure if it is still there. My dad has some twisted remnants of bodywork which i could probably salvage a small piece for you when i am next there if you are interested!
Kind regards.
Chris

 

Hello Chris
Duane was last on the forum in 2011


regards
Clive

 

Hi Clive
thanks for letting me know. Somehow someday he might see the post.

kind regards
Chris

 

Hi Chris, just come across this whilst researching something else! How fantastic, sorry it took so long

 

Chris not been on forum since last September I have sent him a message on your behalf

regards
Clive

 

Hi Duane, (and thank you Clive for the heads up)
glad you found my message. Let me know if you would like a few smallish bits of Spitfire P9548 of 92 squadron. I am not sure of the protocol re exchanging addresses, maybe Clive could let me know the best way of doing this. I would not be able to get to my dad's for several weeks but would quite happily retrieve some bits and pieces from what he has left. I did make a list of pilots, times and dates that P9548 logged, and when i find it i will list the hours that your Great Uncle spent in that Spit.
Kind regards to all on this site
Chris

 

Hello Chris use the private message facility same as the message I sent to you
Regards
Clive

 

Thanks Clive
Regards
Chris

 

A bit more of Peter Eyles background, plus a photo, by Andy Saunders Spitfire

EDIT: Out of sheer curiosity, I had a Google on the surname and there appears to be a strong aviation connection with that surname, so I wonder if any are related?
These show up in RFC records, so First World War -
Royal Flying Corps - people index E
A Eyles
E W Eyles Eric Wolfgang Eyles
F T Eyles
G H Eyles
H Eyles
R N Eyles
V A Eyles Victor Ambrose Eyles
The "Wolfgang" seems to hint at a Germanic influence....

 

Hello Duane.

Out of curiosity, did you ever find his medals? If not, you should visit the British Medals Forum, assuming you have not already done so, of course.

Like here, they are a very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable crowd on there and there is a possibility someone on there may well know where the medals are or can provide you with some good advice.

British Medals Forum • Index page

 

Thank you so much Chris that would be fantastic!
Please let me know what you need to make that happen! So pleased that i saw your post, magic!
Hi Wobbler, thank you for the information.
I did find Peter's medals, amazingly on an out of date auction site (not ebay, im glad to say) they had sold to a collector for £2000. I did manage to contact the seller (very difficult as you can imagine) and he forwarded me photographs and all the information he had gained on that particular journey!
I did, of course offer to buy them but it was not something he wanted to do!
Thank you all again!