PS (Paul Sortehaug): Corran Ashworth was a friend of yours. He followed you to both Europe and North Africa.

JP (Jimmy Prentice): I think he got to Europe before I did.

PS: That might be so. Do you remember the circumstances in which he was lost at all?

JP: Yes. Well, on the Squadron they sent around just a typed sheet NYR (not yet returned) and I saw Ashworth’s name and said to the CO (that) he was an old friend of mine. He said to take the Auster and find out. I flew over there and I was introduced to a chap who was flying with Ash when it happened. I said ‘Is there any show?’ and he said no.

The story I was given was that he was dive-bombing barges crossing the Seine River, and the Mustang carried 1,000 pound bombs under each wing. The bombs were detonated by a device which, as the air pressure increased, the bomb went off before it actually hit the ground by this device going into a concave shape. There was a bit of talk that sometimes these bombs would explode prematurely. I was told that he did at the last moment direct the Mustang on to a barge, and that he crashed on to the barge on the Seine River. That was it!