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Date: | Tuesday 27 February 1940 |
Time: | |
Type: | Bristol Blenheim Mk IV |
Owner/operator: | 82 (United Provinces) Sqn RAF |
Registration: | P4842 |
MSN: | UX-B |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Elbe Estuary, off Scharhörn -
Germany
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Watton, Norfolk |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV P4842 (UX-B) of 82 Squadron, RAF: Took off from RAF Watton at 12:30 hrs for Reconnaissance of Elbe Estuary. Presumed lost at sea on or near the target area; the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/95) states that the crew were "missing presumed dead; Blenheim P4842 failed to return from air operations, 27 February 1940". No official cause for the loss was ever established, but the squadron history implies that the Blenheim was tasked to attack enemy shipping, and was brought down by AA fire from the ships it was attacking.
Claim by Oblt Gerhard Jahny 6/JGr186 - WNW of Helgoland at 14.36 (OKL+JFV d.Dt.Lw. II - 1)
Fg Off Blake was initially buried in Wilhelmshaven German Military Cemetery Row D Grave 263.
Reinterred 9 July 1947.
Crew
Pilot: 39196 Fg Off John Christopher Howell Blake -Sage War Cemetery Plot 4 Row E Grave 8.
Observer: 564455 Sgt Thomas Sinclair Weightman - Runnymede Memorial Panel 20.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: 611040 AC1 Samuel Newton Middleton - Runnymede Memorial Panel 25.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain p 26)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/95:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14141917 3. The Squadron That Died Twice - The story of No. 82 Squadron RAF By Gordon Thorburn
4.
http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/W.htm 5.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076801/middleton,-samuel-newton/ 6.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1531193/weightman,-thomas-sinclair/ 7.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2073565/blake,-john-christopher-howell/ 8.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbe#Outer_Elbe_(estuary)
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
17 May 1940 |
P4904 |
82 (United Provinces) Sqn RAF |
2 |
near Lappion (Aisne), 25 km ENE Laon, Hauts-de-France |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
06-Jun-2019 15:17 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
08-Jun-2019 10:32 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Operator] |
04-Nov-2019 10:52 |
Anon. |
Updated [Operator, Operator] |
18-May-2022 17:14 |
Anon. |
Updated [Narrative] |