Date:	Thursday 6 June 1940
Time:	afternoon
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	17 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P3472
MSN:	YB-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Bernaville, 13 km East of Doullens, Amiens, Somme, Hauts de France -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent
Destination airport:	RAF Hawkinge, Kent

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P3472 (YB-A) 17 Squadron, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) when lost (Failed To Return) from a Combat Air Patrol over France. Pilot missing presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/805): "Hurricane P3472 crashed in France, 6 June 1940. Squadron Leader G D Emms: missing presumed dead"

Airborne from RAF Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent for 17 Squadron's afternoon Combat Air Patrol (the squadron's second patrol of the day). Shot down in air to air combat, and believed to have crashed at Bernaville, 13 km East of Doullens, Somme, Hauts de France

17 Squadron lost two Hurricanes and two pilots in the above afternoon combat air patrol: Hurricanes P2905 and P3472, with pilots P/O R C Whittaker and Squadron Leader G D Emms. Over the years, various unofficial published sources have contradicted themselves over which pilot was in which aircraft. The AIR 81 file puts P/O Whittaker in Hurricane P2905 (shot down by a Dornier Do 17) and Squadron Leader Emms in Hurricane P3472 (shot down by a Bf 109).

Crew of Hurricane P3472:
Squadron Leader Geoffrey Donald Emms, RAF 05170, posted 06/06/1940, missing in action, presumed killed.

As no trace of Hurricane P3472 or its pilot was ever found, he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

The reported crash location of Bernaville is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France, some 18 miles (29 km) east of Abbeville, at approximate Coordinates: 50°07′55″N 2°09′50″E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/805: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502476
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269622/emms,-geoffrey-donald/
4. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008 p 41
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/17_squadron.html#0606
6. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7606
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernaville .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Sep-2019 21:51	Dr. John Smith	Added
12-Sep-2019 23:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
17-Sep-2019 19:36	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]