Date:	Saturday 10 January 1942
Time:	21:38 LT
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	83 Sqn RAF
Registration:	AE133
MSN:	OL-X
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rüsthofen, Krummhörner Straße, Krummhörn, Niedersachsen -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
One of the losses during the Wilhelmshaven raid was the Hampden I AE133 OL-X of 83 Squadron RAF. It took off from RAF Scampton at around 17:00 hrs on the 10th January 1942. It was the last operation in Hampden aircraft for the squadron, that dispatched six crews.

On the way to the target AE133 was hit by Flak of Marine-Flak-Abteilung 236 and crashed. The wireless operator, Percy Sekine, survived the following crash and remembered what happened then:

""We took off from Scampton around 17:00 on 10th January 1942, the target Wilhelmshaven. Over Germany, approaching the target, either through flak or mechanical failure, the port engine packed up and with a full bomb load we started to lose height. The port engine also powered the generator so we could not drop the bombs which we had to do to stand a chance of getting back.

To ditch in the sea in January ’42 was certain death, and Martin Fletcher, our pilot, told me to try and release the bombs manually, but it was no good; we threw overboard everything of weight, guns, cylinders etc.

Then Martin turned the aircraft inland (we had been heading out to sea) and told us to bale out. I jumped out at under 3,000 ft. Harold followed. The last I heard before that was Leonard Fox (second pilot) asking and helping Martin to control the rudder pedals.

Less than a minute after I jumped, they crashed, lighting up the sky with the explosion, as I was still on the way down. Leonard Fox and Martin Fletcher are buried at Sage, a cemetery on the way to Wilhelmshaven. I owe my life to Martin, a fine and brave Rhodesian.

I was captured about five hours later, the usual interrogation and first of many Stalags VIIA Mooseburg, near Munich. I escaped from there in July 1942 by climbing the wire between two sentry boxes, aided by poring rain which deadened sound and caused the sentry to shelter as I went over. I was free for seven days but was caught outside Innsbruck. There were two more escape attempts, one by tunnel under the wire, the next on a working party."

The Hampden crashed at 21:38 near Campen, northwest of Emden. The villagers of Campen were afraid that the bomber crashed near the school but the bomber did a sharp turn and crashed in a field next to the place called Rüsthofen. Two crew were killed, one being found in the field with his unopened parachute.

Crew:
778412: Sgt Martin Cargill Fletcher (pilot) RAFVR - buried at Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
125582: Sgt Leonard Armstrong Fox (observer) RAFVR - buried at Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
926467 Sgt Harold Royston Holme (wireless operator/air gunner) RAF POW Camp 383 Hohen Fels. PoW Number 149.
1375192 Sgt Percy Yasui Sekine (wireless operator/air gunner) RAF POW Camp 383 Hohen Fels PoW Number 144.

1. "Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 3: Aircraft and Crew Losses 1942", by W R Chorley. ISBN 0-904597-89-X
2. "The Bomber Command War Diaries", by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, ISBN 1-85780-033-8
RAF Prisoners of War
3. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campen_%28Krummh%C3%B6rn%29
4. http://www.maplandia.com/germany/niedersachsen/weser-ems/aurich/campen/
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7715-Hampden-AE133-10-Jan-1942
6. http://www.bunkermuseum.de/schriften_bunkermuseum/broschuere_bombentote_emden_2011.pdf
7. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RAF_owned_AA100.html
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2073732/fletcher,-martin-cargill/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2073737/fox,-leonard-armstrong/
10. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part two
11. Google Maps
12. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/fletcher-martin.html
13. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jan-2017 09:45	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
12-Nov-2017 18:32	Red Dragon	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Aug-2018 18:34	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Nov-2018 12:13	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
11-Nov-2018 12:18	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
29-Dec-2021 12:29	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
10-Jan-2024 07:49	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Jan-2024 07:50	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative]