Date:	Saturday 18 May 1940
Time:	07:35
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	53 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L4861
MSN:	PZ-P
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Fontaine-au-Pire South East of Cambrai, Nord Department -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Poix-de-Picardie, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bristol Blenheim IV, L4861, PZ-P, 53 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 18 May 1940 when lost (failed to return) from a combat operation. All three crew survived. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/447): "Blenheim L4861 crashed at Fontaine-au-Pire near Cambrai, France, 18 May 1940. Sergeant E F Woods and Pilot Officer P G Royle, prisoners of war. Aircraftman 2nd Class A H Malkin, safe"

Took off from Poix-de-Picardie and went missing on reconnaissance 18th May 1940. According to French sources, Blenheim L4861 was shot down at Fontaine-au-Pire South East of Cambrai. After the Blenheim crash landed, the three crew members found shelter with a local priest. AC.2 A.H. Malkin then left their hiding place to try and find an ambulance to transport his wounded colleague, Sgt E. F. Woods. Pilot Officer Royle then returned to the wreckage of Blenheim L4861 to try and set it on file, in order to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

In the afternoon, Pilot Officer Royle and Sgt. Woods were captured by an enemy patrol , arrested, and taken as PoWs.

Crew of Blenheim L4861
Pilot Officer Paul Gordon Royal (pilot, RAF 42152); survived, captured, taken PoW. interned at PoW Camps 344/L1/L3 as PoW No 2269
Sgt E F Woods (Observer, RAF 581254) survived, although injured, taken as PoW
AC.2 A H Malkin (Wireless Op./Air Gunner, RAF 631632) survived, evaded capture, returned to his unit

After a year in Stalag Luft I P/O Paul Royle was transferred to Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany (now Żagań, Poland) where he was one of the prisoners nicknamed "the penguins" who helped to dispose of sand from tunneling in their trousers and he started a tunnel under block 68.

On the night of 24 March 1944, he was number 57 in the queue of war prisoners waiting to escape and teamed up with Flight Lieutenant Edgar Humphreys who was the next in line. After being pulled through the narrow tunnel on a trolley and climbing the exit ladder, Royle and Humphreys ran for the cover of pine trees and then set off in the direction of Switzerland. They evaded capture for two nights and crossed the Berlin to Breslau autobahn before they were arrested by home guard upon entering a village. The two men were interrogated by the Gestapo in Görlitz, Royle was then returned to solitary confinement in Stalag Luft III but Humphreys was one of the 50 escapers who were victims of the Stalag Luft III murders, having been selected for execution by SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe on the orders of Adolf Hitler

In January 1945 with Soviet forces only 16 miles away the camp was evacuated and the prisoners including Royle were marched west to Marlag und Milag Nord prisoner-of-war camp. He was finally liberated by British troops on 2 May 1945 and was flown to Britain where he was discharged from the RAF. He then attended the Royal School of Mines and worked in the mining and engineering industries upon his return to Australia. He married twice and celebrated his 100th birthday on 17 January 2014.

Royle died, aged 101, on 23 August 2015, leaving Dick Churchill as the only remaining survivor of the 1944 escape from Stalag Luft III. Dick Churchill, the last survivor of the 76 escapees, died on 15 February 2019, aged 99.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 31)
2. Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/447: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142118
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/53_squadron.html
5. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7320
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Royle
7. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-27/great-escape-survivor-recounts-breakout,-70-years-on/5347898
8. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80024171
9. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3212149/Australian-Great-Escape-hero-Paul-Royle-dies-age-101.html

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

16 May 1940

L4864

53 Sqn RAF

2

near Valenciennes, Nord Department

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Mar-2008 11:06	JINX	Added
02-Jan-2012 09:36	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Source, Damage, Narrative]
27-Jan-2012 13:06	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Source]
23-Jul-2013 15:36	JINX	Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative]
16-Oct-2013 04:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
15-Dec-2014 17:04	Jixon	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
09-Oct-2018 18:52	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
04-Jul-2019 20:49	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
04-Jul-2019 20:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Source, Narrative]
08-Jul-2019 05:55	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, Narrative]
27-Jul-2019 22:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Date, Total fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]