Date:	Sunday 26 May 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Bristol Beaufort Mk I
Owner/operator:	22 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L4450
MSN:	OA-F
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, Schiling Roads north of Wilhelmshaven, off Heligoland -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Coates, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bristol Beaufort Mk.I L4450 (OA-F) 22 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on the night of 25-26 May 1940. All four crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/582): "Beaufort L4450 failed to return from an operational flight over France [sic], 26 May 1940. Leading Aircraftman A D MacKenzie, Wing Commander H M Mellor, Pilot Officer H J Cook and Flying Officer F R Jamieson: missing presumed dead".

Beaufort L4450 took off on the evening of 25/05/1940 at 23:00 hrs from North Coates for a "gardening" (mine laying) sortie. Lost without trace when presumably crashed into the North Sea, in the vicinity of Schiling Roads, north of Wilhelmshaven, off Heligoland, Germany, probably in the early hours of the following day. Cause not known, but no reported claims by Flak/AAA or enemy fighters. As stated above, all four crew on board lost without trace, and were posted as "missing presumed killed". Wing Commander Harry Manners Mellor was the Commanding Officer of 22 Squadron, RAF at the time of the loss of him and his aircraft.

Crew of Beaufort L4450:
Wing Commander Harry Manners Mellor, RAF 16097, pilot and C.O of 22 Squadron, age 37, posted 26/05/1940, as missing believed killed
Flying Officer Frederick Robert Jamieson, RAF 37855, age 27, posted 26/05/1940 as missing believed killed
Leading Aircraftman Alan D. MacKenzie, RAF 623407, age 24, Wireless Op./Air Gunner, posted 26/05/1940 as missing believed killed
Pilot Officer Horace James Cook, RAF 77351, age 35, posted 26/05/1940 as missing believed killed

As no trace of the aircraft or its crew was ever found, the crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain. 1978 p 27)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/582: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502220
3. Ross McNeill, Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, 1939-1941
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076707/mellor,-harry-manners/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1801096/jamieson,-frederick-robert/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1079486/mackenzie,-alan-duncan/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1084868/cook,-horace-james/
8. https://www.docdroid.net/s5XMPzI/beaufort-bomb-mines-torpedoes-flypast-2014-10.pdf
9. http://www.isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk/people_2_m/mellor_hm.htm .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
16-Aug-2019 22:48	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Aug-2019 22:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
19-Aug-2019 17:57	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]