Date:	Friday 14 June 1940
Time:	16:30 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	12 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L5396
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	between Coulonges and Les Minieres (Eure) 2 km NNE of Damville -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Sougé, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I L5396 (PH-P) 12 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over France. Of the three crew, one was killed, one survived but was killed on the ground by enemy troops, and one survived and evaded capture. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/963): "Battle P6596 [*sic] crashed at Coulonges, France, 14 June 1940. Leading Aircraftman D L Grant and Pilot Officer P H Blowfield: report of deaths"

Airborne at 15:40 hours from Sougé. Target: Enemy troop columns at Evreux. Shot down by Bf 109s at between Coulonges (Eure) and Les Minieres, 2 km North North East of Damville, France. Sgt Grant was killed, but the pilot and observer set out to evade capture. Sgt Batty succeeded in reaching England where he reported that his Skipper had been shot and killed by machine-gun fire from a Panzer tank. This happened near Les Minieres (Eure), about 8 km NW of where they had crash-landed.

Crew of Battle L5396:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Philip Harvey Blowfield, RAFVR 77782, age 20, as noted above, survived crash, but killed 14/06/1940, while trying to escape back to Allied lines, buried at Les Minieres Communal Cemetery, Eure, France. (NCO:742045, Gazette of 26th March 1940)
Sgt Batty (Observer); Survived, Evaded capture, returned to England RAF/525889
Sergeant (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) David Laing Grant, RAFVR 749442, age 26, killed in action 14/06/1940, buried at Coulonges Churchyard, Eure, France

Note that the official Air Ministry file AIR 81/963 is incorrect: The Fairey Battle involved in the above incident was L5396, and NOT "P6596". While the serial "P6596" was allocated to a Fairey Battle, that particular Fairey Battle saw no operational service (stored at 20 MU RAF Aston Down from 10 March 1940) before being transferred to the SAAF (South African Air Force) as "925" on 2 July 1940.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/963: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502414
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2320845/blowfield,-philip-harvey/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2320688/grant,-david-laing/
5. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p 150)
6. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=1152
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/12_squadron.html#1406
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=25329
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67253690/philip-harvey-blowfield
10. https://www.ww2cemeteries.com/les-minieres-communal-cemetery.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Oct-2019 20:04	Dr. John Smith	Added
01-Oct-2019 20:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
01-Oct-2019 20:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
02-Oct-2019 09:20	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
29-Sep-2021 09:34	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative]