Date:	Tuesday 20 August 1940
Time:	15:30
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	12 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L5491
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, Kent
Destination airport:	RAF Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, Kent

Narrative:
Fairey Battle L5491: Written off (damaged beyond repair) whilst parked on the ground when RAF Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, Kent. Destroyed when attacked in an air raid at 15:30 hours on 20 August 1940. According to the following excerpt from an Isle of Sheppey local history Facebook page (see link #4):

"During the afternoon of the 20th August [1940], 27 Dorniers and 30 Me.109's were reported flying into the Thames Estuary. Some it seemed, dropped a few bombs on Eastchurch as they went past, as a comment in 12 Squadron's Log for the day commented: 'Aircraft L5491 badly riddled on the ground by shrapnel during a raid by enemy aircraft going up-river to London'".

1. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p.156)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1979 p.37)
3. 12 Squadron ORB (Operations Record Book) Air Ministry Form AM/F.540 for 1-31 August 1940: File AIR 27/164/11 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8408227
4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/269052736530087/permalink/1172447229523962/
5. https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-in-western-europe/battle-of-britain/raf-eastchurch/
6. http://www.battleofbritain1940.net/0029.html
7. http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10097.0
8. https://da-dk.facebook.com/groups/269052736530087/permalink/1172447229523962/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Mar-2008 08:33	JINX	Added
09-Jan-2015 22:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
19-Oct-2018 13:38	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
22-May-2019 18:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
24-Oct-2020 01:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
14-Jun-2023 17:50	Nepa	Updated [[Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]]