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Hurricane, P3518 took off from Martlesham Heath,
Suffolk with Pilot Officer. Camille Robespierre Bon
Seigneur at the controls "Taken from the operations
record book of 257 Squadron for the day 3/9/1940:
"The whole squadron took off from Martlesham under the
command of Sdr Harkness and was involved in a combat
with enemy raiders in the Chelmsford area. In the combat
P/O Bonseigneur was shot down and killed after baling
out at Ingatestone. P/O Hunt was also shot down, he
succeeded in baling out when his cockpit was on fire. He
was taken to Billericay Hospital suffering from severe
burns. P/O Grundy landed at Martlesham after his port The picture above taken looking west at the dig in
tail had been shot off by an explosive cannon. Sgt. 1974; The site is now right beside the busy A12
Nutter's main starboard plane & petrol tank were shot by Chelmsford by-pass, between Margaretting and
explosive cannon of which he received small splinters in Galleywood the crash site only just being missed
his legs. when the road was built in the 1980s, 50 metres
Enemy casualties: more to the west and it would have covered a
Battle Of Britain crash site for ever. I very much
One Me109 jaguar? probable; Sgt. Fraser
doubt that people driving past know what history is
One Me 109 Damaged; PO Grundy a matter of yard's away!
Our casualties An article in the Sept. 6, 1940 Regina Leader-Post
said Bonseigneur (whose name also appears as
PO BONSEIGNEUR; killed
"Bon Seigneur" in some sources) was born at Gull
PO HUNT; seriously burned Lake to Dr. C.R. Bonseigneur and his wife.
Tragically, Dr. Bonseigneur, who had served in the
Canadian army's dental corps during the First World
The museum website adds: "On 11th August 1974, the War, died in 1918, shortly after the birth of his son.
then-Essex Historical Aircraft Society carried out their first
major excavation the remains of which are displayed at Camille's early education was at Forget and later at
Prince Albert and Regina, where he attended Holy
the museum. The team on the dig were Fred Dunn, Dave
Campbell, Roger Pickett, Robin Hill, Ron Wingrave, Chick Rosary elementary school, Central Collegiate and
Lowin and Colin Wingrave Balfour Technical School. "Following this, he went
east and for two years was a member of the
The dig started at about 8.30 am and at a depth of three Canadian Corps of Signals at Kingston. In July, 1939,
feet ( 1 metre ) the smashed remains of the Rolls Royce he went to England and enlisted in the Royal Air
Merlin came to the light of day for the first time in thirty Force, where he became a pilot officer and went
four years. Ravaged by corrosion most of the outer casing into active fighting service this year."
had rotted away. Other finds include the gun firing
Mary Schabel of Ituna, Saskatchewan, who read a
button from the spade grip, engine mounts, Rotol
brief article I wrote about PO Bonseigneur and
propeller boss and the maker's plate, confirming this as
the aircraft flown by Pilot Officer; Camille Robespierre telephone me to indicate that she’d boarded after
his death with his mother and step-father. She
Bonseigneur. The excavation of this Battle of Britain
confirmed that "she talked about how, in his youth,
casualty was completed by 16.30 hrs on the same day.
how interested he was in the air force and ...
[because] nothing was going on in Canada yet, that
was why he joined the RAF."
She also gave me the phone number for Lorna Obst
of Yellow Grass, Sask., who was very helpful.
