Date:	Wednesday 12 June 1940
Time:	22:30
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	254 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N3627
MSN:	QY-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	west of Romsdalsfjord, Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county. -   Norway
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Sumburgh, Shetland Islands
Destination airport:	RAF Sumburgh, Shetland Islands

Narrative:
Blenheim N3627/R: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations to Norway. All three crew missing, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/868): "Blenheim N3627 failed to return from air operations over the Norwegian Coast and Trondheim, 12 June 1940. Sergeant R H Brown, Sergeant W Dixon and Sergeant H G J Gannaway: missing presumed dead"

Took off from RAF Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, tasked with an operation to Trondheim. Shot down at 22:30 hrs by Oblt Walter of I/ZG76 and crashed west of Romsdalsfjord, Romsdal district of Møre og Romsdal county, near Trondheim. All three crew lost, presumed killed in action.
Crew:
Sgt (561051) Richard H. BROWN (pilot) RAF - missing, presumed killed in action
Sgt (627060) Herbert G.J. GANNAWAY (obs.) RAF - missing, presumed killed in action
Sgt (751897) Wilfrid DIXON (WOp/AG) RAFVR - missing, presumed killed in action

As no trace of the aircraft or its crew were ever found, they are all commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p 21)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/868: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502514
3. Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941), Midland publishing
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/254_squadron.html
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530643/brown,-richard-henry/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1270596/gannaway,-herbert-george-james/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232268/dixon,-wilfrid/
8. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/15.htm
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romsdalsfjord

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

25 June 1940	N3604	254 Sqn RAF	3	Østhusvik, Rennesøy, Rogaland, off Stavanger		w/o
27 June 1940	P6957	235 Sqn RAF	3	North Sea NNW of Egmond aan Zee, Noord-Holland		w/o
6 July 1940	L8842	254 Sqn RAF	1	North Sea, 30 miles West of Bergen		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Mar-2015 14:49	gerard57	Added
27-Mar-2015 16:10	Jixn	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport]
26-Sep-2018 10:10	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Sep-2019 20:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Sep-2019 13:12	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]