Date:	Friday 14 June 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	21 Sqn RAF
Registration:	R3742
MSN:	YH-B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ardres, Pas De Calais, 10 miles SSE of Calais -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bodney, near Watton, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF Bodney, near Watton, Norfolk

Narrative:
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV R3742 (YH-B) 21 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operartions over France. Of the three crew, one was killed, and the other two survived to be captured and become PoWs. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/900): "Blenheim R3745 [*sic] crashed at Ardres, France, 14 June 1940. Pilot Officer W A Saunders: missing presumed dead. Sergeant C Webb and Sergeant W H Eden: prisoners of war".

Airborne from RAF Bodney, near Watton, Norfolk, tasked with bombing Merville airfield. Last seen being chased by Bf 109s over Ardres, France.

Crew of Blenheim R3742:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) William Anthony Saunders, RAF 40756, age 20, posted 14/06/1940, missing, presumed killed in action. (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 24 May, 1938)
Sgt William Harry Eden 580404 (Observer); survived, but captured and became a PoW (see below)
Sgt Clifford Webb 540410 (Wireless Op./Air Gunner); survived, but captured and became a PoW (see below)

Pilot Officer Saunders has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Sgt W.H.Eden was on his 30th operation, and made his way overland to Wissant on the coast, about 35 km away. There they commandeered a rowing boat, and managed to get to within 10 miles of the Kent coast before losing an oar. The loss of the oar meant that the boat drifted around in circles until it was washed up back on the French coast

He evaded capture until captured late in July 1940 near Doullens after spending 3 days in a rowing boat. He had tried to return to the UK by walking to Le Harve, but was captured en route. He was interned in PoW Camps L1/L6/357, as PoW No.87. Sgt C.Webb was also captured with his comrade but was interned in Camps L1/L3/L6/357 as PoW No.76.

The reported crash location of Ardres is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France, 10.1 miles by rail (station is at Pont-d'Ardres, a few km from Ardres) South South East of Calais, at approximate Coordinates: 50°51′20″N 1°58′42″E

Note that the official Air Ministry file AIR 81/900 is in error; the Blenheim involved was R3742 and NOT R3745. (Blenheim R3745 was wrecked when it overshot while landing at RAF Bicester on 22 April 1943)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1980 p 24)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/899: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502602
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2940911/saunders,-william-anthony/
4. Footprints on the Sands of Time: RAF Bomber Command Prisoners-of-War in Germany 1939-45 By Oliver Clutton-Brock p 42
5. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=6236
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/21_squadron.html#1406
7. http://aircrewremembered.com/saunders-william.html
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost.php?p=78798&postcount=2
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardres ..
10. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

5 May 1941	L8758	21 Sqn RAF	3	the Irish Sea, between Rhyl and Isle of Man.		w/o
16 July 1941	V6240	21 Sqn RAF	3	Waalhaven Airfield, Zuid-Holland		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2019 18:10	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Sep-2019 18:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
27-Sep-2019 18:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
28-Sep-2019 10:19	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
14-Jun-2023 06:39	Rob Davis	Updated [[Operator]]