Date:	Thursday 13 June 1940
Time:	19:15
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	226 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L5450
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Faux-Villecerf, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I L5450 (MQ-N) 226 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) after it crash landed in Northern France. All three crew survived. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/903): "Battle P5450 [*sic] in air operations, 13 June 1940. Sergeant H A Asker and Leading Aircraftman P Kirk: missing, later reported as safe. Acting Flight Lieutenant F O Barrett: injured"

Airborne from Faux-Villecerf, France to attack enemy Panzer tanks in the Foret de Gaul, south east of Montmirail. Shot down by Bf 109s after the attack had been completed. The crew dropped their bombs when they came under attack, and managed to shoot down one of the Bf 109s that were attacking them. However the engine of the Fairey Battle was hit by Flak/AAA at an altitude of just 20 feet (probably a glycol leak from a bullet hit in the radiator) and the engine stopped, causing it to crash land.

Crew of Battle L5450:
Flight Lieutenant Frederick Oliver Barrett (Pilot, RAF 40355, aged 23) - wounded in action 13/06/40 (broken elbow)
Sergeant Harold Albert Asker (Observer, RAF 47171) - survived uninjured, returned to his unit
Leading Aircraftman Phillip Kirk (Wireless Op./Air Gunner, RAF 48727) - survived uninjured, returned to his unit

Flight Lieutenant Frederick Oliver Barrett was recovered by French Infantry units, and taken to Provins Hospital for treatment to his injuries (broken elbow). There he received treatment, but the hospital was evacuated at 13:00 the next day (June 14 1940). The plan was to complete his treatment at Auxerre Hospital, but en route the ambulance was intercepted by an enemy troop patrol. Flight Lt Barrett was thus briefly in the status of "captured and taken as PoW", but the ambulance, its patients and crew managed to break away from the enemy troops at Troyes, and return Flt Lt Barrett to Provins Hospital to complete his treatment

From there, on the following day (15 June 1940) the ambulance, crew and Flt Lt Barrett managed to make their way to Souge to be reunited with the rest of his crew. The next day (16 June 1940) the crew of Battle L5450 were repatriated to England (via a brief stop over at La Baule Hospital).

Note that the official Air Ministry file AIR 81/903 is incorrect - the Fairey Battle involved in the incident was L5450 and NOT "P5450". The serial P5450 was allocated to an Airspeed Queen Wasp RPV (unmanned target drone); one of a batch of 30 with serials P5446 to P5465 (which were in the event cancelled and not built)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britian, 1978 p 35)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/903: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502605
3. https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RAF_officers_B01.html
4. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7578
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/226_squadron.html#1306
6. https://www.anciens-aerodromes.com/?p=33864
7. https://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Barrett_FO.htm
8. Flt Lt Barrett's Escape Report: National Archives (PRO Kew) File WO 208/3298/14: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14082382

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Aug-2008 10:17	Anon.	Added
27-Jan-2012 13:08	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport]
27-Sep-2019 20:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Time, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
27-Sep-2019 20:37	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Sep-2019 10:17	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]