Date:	Wednesday 11 December 1940
Time:	09:50 LT
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	44 Sqn RAF
Registration:	X3049
MSN:	KM-W
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rougé, near Chateaubriant, Loire-Atlantique -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
During the night of 10-11 December 1940, the RAF Bomber Command dispatched 62 aircraft to bomb many targets (only 6 reached their primary targets) and 5 Hampdens to lay mines in the River Gironde. Two Hampdens and a Blenheim did not return, four of their crew were killed and seven captured.

The Hampden I X3049 KM-W of 44 Sqn RAF took off from Waddington this night on a mine-laying sortie in the Gironde. It was hit by Flak which ruptured one of the fuel tanks. The Hampden was force-landed at 0950 hrs (French-German time) in France, in the commune of Rougé, close to Chateaubriant, due to fuel shortage. While on the ground awaiting arrest Sgt Tebbutt sent a W/T message in plain language, timed at 09.01 hours (British time), to say the crew was down but safe, Merry Xmas!!.

French archives mentioned that "a three engines aircraft whose marks were KM - X3049, did an emergency landing, on 11 December 1940, at 09.50 hours, close to Chateaubriant (West of France); the plane was in flames, the 4 crewmen were unharmed and captured by the Germans".

Crew:-
Pilot : Squadron Leader Nicholas Henry Joseph Tindall RAF 5225 [PoW]
Observer : Sergeant Eric Martin RAF 742616 [PoW]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant James McEwan RAF 751230 [PoW]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Peter Reginald Tebbutt RAF 640070 [PoW]

1. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/06158.php
2. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=6380
3. http://www.absa3945.com/Pertes%20Bretagne/Loire%20Atlantique/11%20decembre%201940/Hampden%20X3049.htm
4. "Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, vol 1: Aircraft and Crew lost during 1939-1940", by W R Chorley. ISBN 0-904597-85-7
5. http://www.rafinfo.org.uk/BCWW2Losses/1939-1940.htm
6. "The Bomber Command War Diaries", by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, ISBN 1-85780-033-8
7. http://www.conscript-heroes.com/escapelines/LIB-3329-101-300.htm
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Tindal-Carill-Worsley
9. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roug%C3%A9
10. http://www.maplandia.com/france/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/chateaubriant/rouge/
11. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Dec-2017 12:27	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
11-Jul-2018 19:44	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
30-Oct-2018 04:24	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
10-Dec-2023 07:44	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]