Spitfire Mk.Vb, AX-N, Er874, “Cirecooks V”, N° 1 Squadron, Tunisia, April 1943.
During take off from Gourbine, on the 17th of April 1943, the aircraft suffered engine failure and belled landed in a field about 1.6km East of Gourbine.
The pilot Lt. Schalk Willem van der Merwe survived the crash and the aircraft was recovered. In August 1943, he left 1 squadron to become a flight commander at 41 squadron. He was killed in a flying acciden on the the 30th of May 1944, crashing at St. Albans Port Elizabetj. This whilst assigned to 7 Air Depot, flying a Kittyhawk Mk.IA, #5008 (ex RAF EV-165). He was 25 years old.