This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can
submit corrected information.
Date: | Sunday 12 May 1940 |
Time: | 09:02 LT |
Type: | Bristol Blenheim Mk IV |
Owner/operator: | 15 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | P6912 |
MSN: | LS-O |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Diepenbeek, near Genk, Limburg -
Belgium
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV P6912 (LS-O) 15 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations. All three crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry report into the incident: "Blenheim P6912 failed to return from an operational flight; crashed near Diepenbeek, 12 May 1940. Sergeant E G Roberts, Leading Aircraftman E W L Cooper and Pilot Officer C R Frankish: report of deaths".
P6912 was one of seven 15 Squadron Blenheims lost on this operation. Airborne from Alconbury, briefed to destroy the strategic bridges over the Albert Kanaal at Maastricht. Crashed near Genk, Belgium, cause not established.
Crew of Blenheim P6912:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Claude R. Frankish, RAFVR 40616, age 25, killed in action 12/05/1940
Sergeant Edwin G. Roberts, RAF 563483, age 26,killed in action 12/05/1940,
Leading Aircraftman Ernest W.L. Cooper, RAF 539921, age 20, killed in action 12/05/1940,
All three crew fatalities were buried at Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Limburg, Belgium
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/301:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142150 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109627/frankish,-claude-randolph/ 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109969/roberts,-edwin-george/ 5.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109534/cooper,-ernest-william-laurie/ 6.
http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/15_squadron.html 7.
http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/20.htm 8.
http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/raf-losses-may-1940-an-update.16940/page-4#post-195028 9.
http://www.belgians-remember-them.eu/crash-lim-genk1.php
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
21 May 1940 |
R3706 |
15 Sqn RAF |
0 |
between Etaples and Boulogne |
|
w/o |
11 June 1940 |
L8851 |
15 Sqn RAF |
3 |
Pont-Audemer (Eure), South bank of the River Risle, 28 km SE of le Hav |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
29-Jun-2019 20:22 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
30-Jun-2019 10:25 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Operator] |