Date:	Wednesday 15 May 1940
Time:	18:20
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	73 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P3278
MSN:	TP-K
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	West of Vouzières, Ardennes -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Rouvres, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3278 (TP-K) 73 Squadron RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from a combat air patrol north of Reims, France. Pilot bailed out by parachute, and survived. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/406): "Hurricane P3278 crashed in air operations north of Reims, France, 15 May 1940. Sergeant L J W Humphries, injured".

According to unofficial published sources (see link #4) this Hurricane was shot down in air to air combat and the pilot bailed out after his aircraft was damaged in combat with Messerschmidt Bf-110's of ZG 2, west of Vouzières, Ardennes, Grand Est, France.

Crew of Hurricane P3278
Sergeant L J W Humphries (Pilot) RAF 566270 - bailed out 15 May 1940, injured/wounded in action

Note that some unofficial published sources give the Hurricane involved as L1693. However, as the Operational Record Books (Air Ministry Form 540) were deliberately destroyed on or about 18 June 1940, when the squadron withdrew back to the UK, the only records for this period are the few pilots logbooks that survive. Some Operational Record Books for this squadron were retrospectively complied in the UK in late June and early July 1940; however, they were done "from memory", and in some cases by personnel that had not gone to France with the Squadron.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978, p 19)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/406: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502077
3. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008
4. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7307
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/73_squadron.html#1505
6. Flight Magazine (June 13 1940 p 537): http://www.skynet.ie/~dan/war/flightsa/Flight_AS1940-2.pdf

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

22 December 1939	L1967	73 Sqn RAF	1	near Altroff, Bettelainville, 2 km NE of Metz, Moselle 57		w/o
2 June 1940	P2700	73 Sqn RAF	1	North east of Proviseux-et-Plesnoy, 20 km North of Reims		w/o
13 June 1940	P2803	73 Sqn RAF	1	Chateau-Renault, near Ruaudin, SE of Le Mans, Sarthe		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Jul-2019 22:49	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Jul-2019 10:48	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
30-Jun-2022 05:07	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]