Battle of Barking Creek The Battle of Barking Creek was a friendly fire incident that happened on 6 September 1939 , resulting in the first death of a British fighter pilot in the Second World War . Incident . At 6 . 15am on 6 September 1939 , unidentified aircraft were reported approaching from the east at high altitude over West Mersea , on the Essex coast . In response , six Hurricanes were ordered to be scrambled from 56 Squadron , based at North Weald Airfield in Essex . For some unknown reason , the Squadron ’ s Commanding Officer , Group Captain Lucking , sent up his entire unit . In addition to these , and unbeknown to the rest of the pilots , two Pilot Officers took up a pair of reserve aircraft and followed at a distance , destined to be the targets of the mistaken attack . Additionally , 151 Squadron ’ s Hurricanes ( also from North Weald ) , and Spitfires from 54 , 65 , and 74 Squadrons based at Hornchurch Airfield scrambled . With the war only three days old , none of the Royal Air Force pilots had seen combat , very few had ever seen a German plane . Communications between planes and command centres were poor . There was no identifying procedure for pilots to distinguish between enemy and friendly aircraft . With everyone in the air expecting to see enemy aircraft , and no experience of having done so , the conditions readily lent themselves to misunderstanding . ' A ' Flight of 74 Squadron saw what they believed were enemy planes and their commanding officer , Adolph " Sailor " Malan , allegedly gave a clear and definite order to engage . Two of the three , Flying Officer Vincent ' Paddy ' Byrne and Pilot Officer John Freeborn , opened fire . Malan later claimed to have given a last minute call of ' friendly aircraft - break away ! ' but , whether this actually happened or not , the call was not heard by the attacking pilots . One Hurricane was piloted by Frank Rose , who was shot down but survived . Pilot Officer Montague Hulton - Harrop , however , did not survive . Fired upon by John Freeborn , he was hit in the back of the head ; he was dead before his plane crashed at Manor Farm , Hintlesham , Suffolk , approximately five miles west of Ipswich . He was the first British pilot fatality of the war . His Hurricane was also the first plane shot down by a Spitfire . The entire air - raid warning turned out to be false . Both Byrne and Freeborn were , along with Group Captain Lucking , placed under close arrest immediately after the incident . Court martial . The ensuing court martial at Fighter Command ' s Bentley Priory headquarters was held in camera , and , as of 2010 , the papers have not been released . However , it is well known that Freeborn felt that his commanding Officer , Sailor Malan , tried to evade responsibility for the attack . Malan testified for the prosecution against his own pilots , stating that Freeborn had been irresponsible , impetuous , and had not taken proper heed of vital communications . During the trial , Freeborn ' s counsel , Sir Patrick Hastings , called Malan a bare - faced liar . Hastings ' deputy in defending the pilots was Roger Bushell , later to be incarcerated with Paddy Byrne at Stalag Luft III and become the mastermind of the Great Escape . The court completely exonerated both of the Spitfire pilots , ruling the case as an unfortunate accident . One history summarises it thus : “ This tragic shambles , hushed up at the time , was dubbed in the RAF ‘ the Battle of Barking Creek ’ – a place several miles from the shooting - down but one which , like Wigan Pier , was a standing joke in the music halls . ” It has been suggested by RAF historians that the incident exposed the inadequacies of RAF radar and identification procedures , leading to them being greatly improved by the crucial period of the Battle of Britain . Afterwards . Montague Hulton - Harrop is buried with a war grave headstone at St Andrew ' s Church in North Weald . Group Captain Lucking was removed from his post as Commanding Officer of 56 Squadron . Frank Rose was killed in action over Vitry en Artoise , France , on 18 May 1940 . Sailor Malan went on to be one of the greatest Allied fighter pilots of the war , shooting down 27 Luftwaffe planes and rising to be a Group Captain . He received the Distinguished Service Order and bar and the Distinguished Flying Cross . On his return to South Africa he worked tirelessly against the apartheid regime until his death in 1963 . Paddy Byrne was shot down and captured over France in 1940 . He was detained at Stalag Luft III alongside his former defence lawyer Roger Bushell . In 1944 he was repatriated , having convinced the Germans and the repatriation board that he was mad . On his return to England he was reinstated into the RAF and given a ground position . John Freeborn flew for the rest of the war and proved to be an outstanding airman . He flew more operational hours in the Battle of Britain than any other pilot . He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and bar and rose to be a Wing Commander . Freeborn finally told some of his version of events in a 2002 biography called " A Tiger ' s Tale " , before co - authoring a more complete account in " Tiger Cub " . In 2009 Freeborn told an interviewer of his continual regret about Hulton - Harrop ' s death , saying , " I think about him nearly every day . I always have done . . . I ' ve had a good life , and he should have had a good life too " . John Freeborn died on 28 August 2010 . He twice married , first in 1941 to Rita Fielder , who pre - deceased him in 1979 . He then married Peta , in 1983 . She died in 2001 . He was survived by a daughter from his first marriage .