THE curious incident of a mysterious Frenchman landing from the sky in a Dorset field has yet to be solved.

Among the effects of Daisy Wyndham Kerr (nee Hull) after she died in 2003 was an autograph book, which contains an intriguing double page relating to the incident.

Keith Simmons of Lower Burton, near Dorchester, shared with Looking Back a photocopy of the page, which reads: Autograph of Frenchman who landed by aeroplane in Homesclose' to join Gen De Gaulle in this country, built plane himself with a friend whose autograph is on other side of paper. Took 1 hours to come. Came here to phone police, stayed and talked for of an hour. Tall, and dark, not very good looking, spoke English well. Educated in England. Had only 280 yards to take off, hid plane in a wood, arrived here at 4.0, 15th day of Nov 1940.' Daisy Kerr, Keith's wife's aunt, known throughout her life as Bubbles, was born on September 25, 1921 at Stinsford Farm in Stinsford and lived there until her marriage in 1946.

Keith explained: "Homesclose was a field about half a mile to the west of the farmhouse which now contains a large detached house. In the narrative, came here' means that the aviators came to Stinsford farmhouse to await the arrival of the police."

He added: "I have tried to decipher both the autographs without removing the scrap of paper from the book. On the front the name seems to be A Devreux'. "

Mention is made of the incident in Rodney Legg's book Dorset's War Diary: Battle of Britain to D-Day: "Friday 15 November: Escape flight from Belgium to Stinsford: Two officers escaped from Belgium today in a light aeroplane which they took from an airfield near Dinant. They flew down the English Channel and landed in the Dorset countryside at 14.00 hours, in Homesclose beside Stinsford Farm, to the east of Dorchester. One of the men is Belgian and the other French."

Many thanks for the welcome,' pilot A Devreux signed in the autograph book of 19-year-old farmer's daughter Daisy Wyndham Hull."

Keith said: "These two aviators were extraordinarily lucky to have survived a flight from Belgium to Dorset in daylight, two months after the Battle of Britain, and seemed to have been unchallenged by both Allied and German fighters. Why did they fly to Dorset when a flight to Kent would have been half the distance?

"Someone has suggested that a family called Devreux lived at Trent Meadows, Puddletown - was the pilot coming home? If you know anything about A Devreux, get in touch with Nicola Rayner on the contact details on this page.