28/05/2026
A treasured artefact from Balado to Gibraltar.
In the summer of 1940 when Britain was enduring the N**i aerial onslaught of the Battle of Britain, the need for Spitfires became urgent. At the time the people of Gibraltar raised over £5000 for the construction of a MK.IIa aircraft (P8394) that was completed in 1941.
After being assigned to various es**rt and convoy patrols ‘Gibraltar’ was allocated to 58OTU based here at Balado Airfield, then known as Balado Bridge.
During a practice exercise on January 29th 1943, the pilot, Henri Delabastita (37) is believed to have lost consciousness at 20,000ft due to a frozen oxygen line. Subsequently the aircraft crashed into marshy ground four miles west of Stirling and Henri was sadly killed. The crash site was discovered 3 days later but much of the wreckage was left submerged in the bog.
57 years later a team of amateur aviation archaeologists recovered pieces of the distorted wreckage in 2000 from 20ft below the surface.
Not long after the recovery the propeller came to reside at the last place the aircraft departed, right here at the airfield. Fast forward to present day, the custodians of the wreckage with help from have righty decided that the propeller and other artefacts will move to Gibraltar to be part of their museums World War 2 history experience inside the World War 2 tunnels where there is already a full size replica of the same Gibraltar spitfire.
Henri Delabastita was originally a pilot in the Belgian Airforce logging over 2,500 hours over his career. He was on a reconnaissance mission in 1940 when he was shot down by German artillery and was captured. He was held at the notorious Colditz POW camp but somehow escaped and managed to make his way to the UK. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve training with 58 & 59OTU based in Grangemouth and Balado Bridge.
Originally interred in Scotland he was later returned to Brussels after the war where he now rests in the Belgian Airman’s Field of Honour.
“They shall mount up with wings as eagles”
