Date:	Sunday 19 May 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	87 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L1612
MSN:	LK-W
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Fenain, 16 km E of Douai, Nord 59 -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Lille/Seclin Airbase, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I L1612 (LK-W) 87 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat air patrol operations over Northern France. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/884): "Pilot Officer G C Saunders: report of death; aircraft failed to return from air operations, France, 19 May 1940"

Airborne from Lille/Seclin Airbase, France for a combat Air Patrol over Northern France. Reportedly shot down near Fenain, 16 km East of Douai, France by a Bf 110. Pilot killed. (Note that some sources give the crash location as "Mainrault" [sic).

Crew of Hurricane L1612:
Pilot Officer Gordon Cranleigh Saunders (pilot, RAF 41620, aged 23) - killed in action 19/05/40, buried at Fenian Communal Cemetery, Nord Department, France

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 11)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) Filre AIR 81/884: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502586
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2276587/saunders,-gordon-cranleigh/
4. Their Finest Hour: Stories of the Men who Won the Battle of Britain (p 101) By Nick Thomas
5. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=764
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/87_squadron.html#1905

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Sep-2019 19:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
26-Sep-2019 11:30	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]