Date:	Wednesday 9 July 1941
Time:	00:56
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	83 Sqn RAF
Registration:	X3139
MSN:	OL-V
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea near Vlieland, Friesland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Handley Page Hampden Mk.I X3139 (OL-V) of 83 Squadron, RAF. Lost on combat operations on night of 8-9-/7/1941. Target: Hamm, Ruhr Valley, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. X3139 was one of 45 Hampdens and 28 Whitleys dispatched on this mission. Only 31 aircraft were able to bomb in the target area. 4 Whitleys and 3 Hampdens lost.

Took off from RAF Scampton at 22:40 hours. Shot down by a night-fighter (Oberfeldwebel Paul Gildner of the 4./NJG 1, who was flying a Bf 110 from Leeuwarden airfield) and crashed 00:56 hours in the North Sea off Vlieland, Friesland. Of the four crew, three were killed, one was captured and taken as PoW.

Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Sergeant Ronald Charles Brutey RAFVR 745639 [Killed]
Observer : Sergeant Malcolm Todd Matthews RAFVR 921666 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Alexander MacPherson RAFVR 982696 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Victor William Kent RAF 755220 [PoW]

Sgt MacPherson is buried in Winsum General Cemetery, but two of those who died (Flt Sgt Brutey and Sgt Matthews) have no known grave, and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. W.R. Chorley: Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War 1941 Page 87.
2. http://www.nimh.nl/nl/images/1941%20sec_tcm5-7282.pdf
3. https://studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/08-09-07-1941-sglo-t1098-handley-page-hampden-mk-i-x3139-ol-v/
4. https://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/air-force-operations/airplanes-allies-and-axis-lost/hampden/23874-X31391941-07-09.html
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530710/brutey,-ronald-charles/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076574/matthews,-malcolm-todd/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2649650/macpherson,-alexander/
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=20619
9. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one
10. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

25 August 1941

AE223

83 Sqn RAF

4

Dispersal RAF Scampton

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
01-May-2016 18:02	Red Dragon	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
28-Sep-2016 15:31	Red Dragon	Updated [Destination airport, Source]
24-Jul-2018 23:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
11-Nov-2018 12:09	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
08-Jul-2019 11:19	TigerTimon	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
15-Jun-2022 04:36	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
22-Apr-2024 13:58	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]