Date:	Tuesday 14 May 1940
Time:	16:10
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	105 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L5230
MSN:	GB-P
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Missing - Sedan, Ardennes. -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Villeneuve-les-Vertus Aerodrome, Marne
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle L5230/P: Written off when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 14/05/1940.
All three crew missing in action, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident: "Battle L5230 failed to return from an operational flight in the vicinity of Sedan, France, 14 May 1940. Sergeant F B Abbott, Leading Aircraftman R D Hughes, and Acting Flight Lieutenant H C Sammels, missing presumed dead".

Battle L5230 Took off at 15:40 hrs from Villeneuve-les-Vertus to attack bridges and roads in the area around Sedan, Champagne-Ardenne, Ardennnes, Northern France (at approximate co-ordinates 49°42′09″N 4°56′28″E). Lost without trace, presumably in the target area. One of seven Battles from 105 Squadron, RAF, that were lost in combat on this day, most within one hour of takeoff.

The events of 14th May 1940 determined both of the A.A.S.F. and of the campaign. The French High Command called for a supreme effort at Sedan, where the ground forces massing for counter-attack had been rudely scattered. Arrangements were accordingly made for the whole strength of the Allied bombers in France to be hurled against the Sedan bridgehead in a series of waves, and soon after noon the few French aircraft available went into action. Attacking bridges and columns of troops, they suffered losses so severe that their remaining operations for the day were cancelled.

Then came the turn of the A.A.S.F. Between 15:00 and 16:00 hrs the entire force of available Battles and Blenheims was flung against the same objectives. But the Me.109's absent in the morning, were now on guard. No. 12 Squadron lost four aircraft out of five; No. 105 Squadron, seven out of eleven; No. 150 Squadron, four out of four; No. 139 Squadron, four out of six; No. 218 Squadron, ten out of eleven. In all, from the seventy-one bombers which took off, forty did not return. No higher rate of loss in an operation of comparable size has even been experienced by the Royal Air Force.
Crew of Battle L5230:
F/Lt (37901) Harold Courtenay Sammels (Pilot), RAF: killed
Sgt (563017) Frank Bernard Abbott, (Obs.) RAF killed
LAC (551679) Raymond Douglas Hughes (WOp/AG) RAF: killed

All three crew fatalities were buried at Sedan-Torchy French National Cemetery, Ardennes, France. This contradicts most published sources, which state that no trace of the Battle or its crew was ever found, and that they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 34)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/351: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C145021550
3. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997)
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2940847/sammels,-harold-courtenay/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1082504/abbott,-frank-bernard/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1800697/hughes,-raymond-douglas/
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/105_squadron.html
8. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=1918

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Jun-2011 07:57	ThW	Added
02-Jan-2012 13:34	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Damage, Narrative]
01-Mar-2012 00:24	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
14-Aug-2013 21:45	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
10-Nov-2014 15:38	Ivan Lother	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
09-Jan-2015 22:06	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Oct-2018 19:20	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
08-Jul-2019 22:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Jul-2019 10:37	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
18-Apr-2022 05:41	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
30-Jun-2022 04:50	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]