Date:	Sunday 16 June 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Vickers Wellesley Mk I
Owner/operator:	47 Sqn RAF
Registration:	K7730
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Cheren (Keren) -   Eritrea
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Port Sudan, Sudan
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Vickers Wellsley Mk.I K7730, 47 Squadron, RAF; Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Eritrea. Both crew survived. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/859): "Wellesley K7730 landed north of Cheren (Keren), Eritrea, after being damaged by anti-aircraft fire, 11 June 1940. Sergeant S A Elsy and Pilot Officer B K L Fuge: prisoners of war"

Wellseley K7730 of 47 Squadron took off from RAF Port Sudan tasked with attacking enemy troop formations at Asmara in Eritrea. The aircraft force landed at Cheren (Keren) in Eritrea after sustaining battle damage. Most sources claim that it was shot down, although sources differ as to whether this was due to Flak/AAA or air to air combat.

If it was the latter, then that is down to a claim by Italian fighter pilot Tenente Carlo Canella, who served with 412a Squadriglia, equipped with Fiat CR.42s, in the East African campaign of 1940-41.

On 12 June 1940 he claimed to have shot down a British Wellesley bomber over the Keren area. It seems probable that this was in fact Pilot Officer B.K.C. Fuge’s Wellesley (K7730) of 47 Squadron shot down the previous day, and not seen to crash at the time by the defenders. The British crew became prisoners. Flak/AAA also claimed this aircraft.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1976 p 64)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/859: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502505
3. The Desert Air Force in World War II: Air Power in the Western Desert, 1940-1942 By Ken Delve
4. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_canella.htm
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keren,_Eritrea
6. http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/47_wwII.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Mar-2008 14:57	JINX	Added
10-Jul-2015 19:34	Giggatson	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
23-Sep-2019 00:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
24-Sep-2019 13:15	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]