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Date: | Sunday 16 June 1940 |
Time: | afternoon |
Type: | Vickers Wellesley Mk I |
Owner/operator: | 223 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | L2694 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Gura Aerodrome, Asmara, Debub Region -
Eritrea
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Summit ALG, Port Sudan, Sudan |
Destination airport: | RAF Summit ALG, Port Sudan, Sudan |
Narrative:Vickers Wellsley Mk.I L2694. 223 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Eritrea. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/931): "Wellesley L2694 failed to returned from a raid over Gura Aerodrome, Eritrea, 16 June 1940. Leading Aircraftman J J Dixon and Pilot Officer M T E Jenkins: missing presumed dead"
Took off at 16:35 hours from RAF Summit ALG, Port Sudan, tasked with bombing Gura Aerodrome at Asmara in the Debub Region of Eritrea. (The site is now the present day Asmara International Airport). Believed shot down by Flak/AAA over the target area, with no survivors among the crew of two.
Crew of Wellseley L2694:
Pilot Officer Michael Thomas Emerson Jenkins (Pilot), RAF 40832, age 23, posted 16/06/1940, as missing presumed killed in action
Leading Aircraftman John J. Dixon (Wireless Op./Air Gunner), RAF 532692, age 22, posted 16/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
As no trace of Wellsley L2694 or its crew was ever found, they are both commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial in Egypt.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 18)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/931:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502563 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1810364/jenkins,-michael-thomas-emerson/ 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1536471/dixon,-john-joseph/ 5.
http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/223_squadron.html#1606 6. Photo of Wellesley L2694:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dabeelo/8510351843 7.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=12556 8.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmara_International_Airport#History Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
08-Mar-2008 02:37 |
JINX |
Added |
23-Aug-2011 07:38 |
rvargast17 |
Updated [Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
24-Aug-2011 12:22 |
rvargast17 |
Updated [Date, Departure airport] |
10-Jul-2015 19:35 |
Gloug |
Updated [Operator] |
29-Sep-2019 17:46 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Date, Time, Registration, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
02-Oct-2019 09:21 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Operator] |