Date:	Sunday 8 December 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I (TT)
Owner/operator:	4 B&GS RCAF
Registration:	RCAF 1650
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lake Erie, near Port Burwell, Ontario -   Canada
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RCAF Fingal, Ontario
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle RCAF 1650, of 4 B&GS (Bombing & Gunnery School), RCAF Fingal, Ontario. Written off (destroyed) 8 December 1940 when crashed into Lake Erie, near Port Burwell, Ontario. Aircraft originally posted as "missing" until wreckage washed ashore at Fort Bruce, and discovered two days later the crash, with the crew still on board the aircraft. All three crew killed. All bodies recovered, and buried in three separate locations - one in Michigan, USA and two in Ontario, Canada
Crew:
Flying Officer (C/2789) Leon Arthur HOOD (pilot) RCAF - killed on active service, buried at West Adrian Cemetery, Michigan, USA
AC2 (R/78034) Ernest William BOURNE (Air Gunner) RCAF - killed on active service 8/12/1940, buried at Whitby (Mount Lawn Cemetery) Whitby, Ontario
AC2 (R/71450) John Henry McNALLY (Air Gunner) RCAF - killed on active service 8/12/1940, buried at Kenora (Lake of the Woods) Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario

Fairey Battle RCAF 1650 was ex-RAF L5608; No RAF service, stored until struck off RAF charge 26 April 1940. Taken on charge by the RCAF on 6 May 1940. Struck Off RCAF Charge 28 February 1941

1. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p.155/p.196)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1979 p.37)
3. The Windsor Daily Star 9 December 1940, p13
3. https://www.rcafassociation.ca/heritage/history/fallen-aviators/rcaf-casualties-second-world-war/mckie-to-middlemiss/
4. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_1650_1699_detailed.html
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2719789/LEON%20ARTHUR%20HOOD/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2266199/ERNEST%20WILLIAM%20BOURNE/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2686856/JOHN%20HENRY%20McNALLY/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Jan-2018 16:43	TB	Added
16-Oct-2020 01:40	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Registration, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
16-Oct-2020 10:20	TB	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative, Operator]
24-Oct-2020 17:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
24-Oct-2020 18:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-Oct-2020 14:47	DB	Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator]