Date:	Tuesday 21 May 1940
Time:	morning
Type:	Gloster Gladiator Mk II
Owner/operator:	263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF
Registration:	N5697
MSN:	-
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Seja Island, northern Norwegian coast. -   Norway
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	HMS Furious
Destination airport:	Bardufoss Airport, Troms og Finnmark, Norway.

Narrative:
263 Sqn. Royal Air Force, Gladiator N5697 was one of 18 aircraft flown from the aircraft carrier HMS Furious for shore based deployment at Bardufoss Airfield, 55 miles northeast of Narvik. The aircraft became separated from the flight in snow storms and fog on the coast and crashed in the mountains of Seja Island, on the Northern Norwegian coast, 25 miles north west of of its destination at Bardufoss, killing Pilot Officer, Walter Philip Richards.
Sections of the wreckage have been recovered for use in the reconstruction af Gladiator N5914 at the Gloucestershire Aviation Collection 1998/Jet Age Museum, Staverton, Gloucestershire, UK.

Norway May 1940 (naval-history.net)
HMS Furious, British aircraft carrier, WW2 (naval-history.net)
No. 263 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia
A/C SERIAL NO (rafmuseum.org.uk)
Flight of Gladiator II N5697 and Pilot Officer W P Richards on 1940-05-21 (backtonormandy.org)
World War 2 - RAF No. 263 Squadron, May/June 1940 (epibreren.com)

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

21 April 1940	N5624	263 Sqn RAF	1	Scapa Flow, Scotland,		w/o
25 April 1940	N5628	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5632	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5725	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5698	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5639	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5589	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5641	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5705	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5579	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5632	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5634	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5915	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5720	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
25 April 1940	N5680	263 Sqn RAF	0	Frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway		w/o
2 June 1940	N5914	263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Sqn RAF	1	Lille Haugefjellet, 12 miles East of Narvik,		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
30-Nov-2020 01:12	Peter Clarke	Added
30-Nov-2020 09:53	Newton	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]