Date:	Saturday 11 May 1940
Time:	17:00 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	103 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2193
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Noirefontaine near Sensenruth, Luxembourg -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Betheniville, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.1 P2193 (PM-C) 103 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/296): "Battle P2193 failed to return from an operational flight, 12 May 1940. Aircraftman 1st Class A S Ross and Pilot Officer E E Morton: report of deaths".

Crew of Battle P2193
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Edgar Elliot Morton, RAF 40635 (New Zeland), age 25, killed in action 12/05/1940
Aircraftman 1st Class (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) Alexander Strachan Ross, RAF 61376, age 19, 12/05/1940,

Both crew fatalities were buried at Sensenruth (Corfuz) Communal Cemetery, Belgium

At 16:30 another three Battles took off to bomb a mechanised column near Bouillon. For this operation and other day operations that followed the Squadron Battles usually flew with only a pilot and air gunner, the pilot undertaking the navigational duties and dropping the bombs. The column was sighted just over a mile South of Bouillon and Pilot Officer V A Cunningham made a shallow dive attack from 3000 feet to 1000 feet during which his Battle was subjected to small arms and machine gun fire. He was unable to observe the effects of his bombing but managed to make a quick escape and return to Betheniville. The Battles of Flying Officer G B Morgan-Dean and Pilot Officer E E Morton were both shot down by ground fire with no survivors. Battle P2193 was airborne 16:30 hrs from Betheniville. Crashed at Noirefontaine near Sensenruth (Luxembourg), 3 km N of Bouillon, Belgium.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain. 1978)
2. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/296: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142145
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2258982/morton,-edgar-elliot/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2258983/ross,-alexander-strachan/
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/103_squadron.html
7. https://www.northlincsweb.net/103Sqn/html/103_squadron_-_op_bouillon_area_-_12-05-40_-_p-o_edgar_e_morton.html

Wreckage of an unidentified Fairey Battle shot down May 1940

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Feb-2011 14:04	ThW	Added
19-Nov-2011 13:16	Anon.	Updated
29-Jun-2019 00:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
30-Jun-2019 10:23	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
08-Jul-2019 00:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code]
08-Jul-2019 00:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]
26-Jun-2022 01:06	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]