Il diario operativo del 241° Squadron RAF riporta la perdita dello Spitfire IX Nr. MH403 in data 9 gennaio 1945 all'altezza di Porto Corsini, con ai comandi il F/O Maurice Freeman. questo seriale risulterebbe errato, in quanto nello storico della produzione Spitfire non esiste traccia dei seriali dall'MH391 all'MH412. Inoltre, nella registrazione delle missioni giornaliere dello Squadron, il seriale MH403 viene riportato solamente una volta in occasione della missione del 9 gennaio, e ciò ci fa ritenere che si tratti di un errore di battitura.
Per quanto riguarda l'episodio del lancio dell'F/O Freeman, riportiamo integralmente il testo dell'Operation Record Book: F/O M.FREEMAN (162239) and his No.2 took off this morning on a rather special Tac/R between LAKE COMACCIO and the sea. It had been thought that the Germans had been pulling out along this small causeway and our Tac/R Section confirmed this. Unfortunately whilst flying at about 100 feet to recce a very small bridge F/O FREEMAN was hit by 20mm fire in the glycol system. He was lucky enough to bale out and make our own lines. F/O.FREEMAN's No.2 did not actually see F/O FREEMAN's parachute open so two aircraft were sent out immediately to make sure he wasn't in the sea. They came back without anything to report.
9th Jan 1945 ADMINISTRATIVE AND PERSONNEL
This morning the Squadron was rather shaken by the fact that Maurice Freeman's parachute had not been seen to open and he was presumed missing by everyone. However about 1230 hours F/O.FREEMAN riding in a Canadian armoured car, drove up to the Mess. From his story his baling out was absolutely copybook except for one rather important point. Whilst falling free he spent a lot of time trying to find the ring and consequently his parachute did not open until under a thousand feet. However "Lady Luck" was again in his side as his parachute caught on trees and house roofs and lowered him very gently to the ground. An Italian woman supplied him with a pair of shoes as he had lost his flying boots during the drop, and from then on the Canadians looked after him very well.