Date:	Thursday 4 July 1940
Time:	morning
Type:	Lockheed Hudson Mk I
Owner/operator:	206 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P5162
MSN:	VX-V
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Waddenzee, near Texel, Noord-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Narrative:
Lockheed Hudson Mk.I P5162 (VX-V) 206 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from operations over the North Sea. All four crew posted as missing believed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1013): "Hudson P5162 failed to return from air operations over the North Sea, 4 July 1940. Leading Aircraftman K E Lewis, Leading Aircraftman K S Bushell, Pilot Officer J E MacKinnon and Pilot Officer S J Lester: missing presumed dead"

Took off from RAF Bircham Newton, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, at 05.50 hrs together with another Hudson (N7368 VX-Y - also from 206 squadron) to search for survivors of a 44 Squadron Handley Page Hampden P4352/KM-J which was reported lost earlier on in the morning on a "gardening" (mine laying) operation in the Great Belt area. Both of these aircraft were lost in the Wadden Sea, near Texel, West Frisian Islands, Noord-Holland, area and is thought that both were brought down by flak. No survivors of the crew of the two Lockheed Hudsons (four in each aircraft).

Crew of Hudson P5162:
Pilot Officer Stanley John Lester, (Pilot) (New Zealander) RAF 41434, aged 26; posted 04/07/1940 as missing, presumed killed in action
Pilot Officer James Elmer MacKinnon (Navigator) (Canadian) RAF 41439, aged 21; posted 04/07/1940 as missing, presumed killed in action
Sgt Keith Stephen Bushell,(Wireless Op/Air Gunner) RAF 546956, aged 21; posted 04/07/1940 as missing, presumed killed in action
Sgt Kenneth Everitt Lewis, (Air Gunner) RAF 746918, aged 31; posted 04/07/1940 as missing, presumed killed in action.

As no trace of Hudson P5162 or its crew of four was ever found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1013: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502852
3. Ross McNeill, 'Royal Air Force Coastal Command Losses: Aircraft and Crew Losses 1939-1941 v. 1', Midland Publishing, 2003
4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/43688219@N00/13854428555
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803345/lester,-stanley-john/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1079541/mackinnon,-james-elmer/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530953/bushell,-keith-stephen/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803394/lewis,-kenneth-everitt/
9. http://aircrewremembered.com/mackinnon-james.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texel

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Oct-2019 22:09	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Oct-2019 11:07	juza7	Updated [Operator]
15-Jun-2022 06:33	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]