Date:	Saturday 20 July 1940
Time:	01:05 LT
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk IC
Owner/operator:	9 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L7795
MSN:	WS-G
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Eckernförder Bucht bay, Schleswig-Holstein -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Honington, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Honington, Suffolk

Narrative:
Vickers Wellington Mk.1C L7795 (WS-G) of 9 Squadron RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Germany. All six crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1152): "Wellington L7795 lost in air operations, 20 July 1940. Squadron Leader J B S Monypenny, Flying Officer D D Middleton, Sergeant F Watson, Sergeant W R Cowell and Sergeant M Gott: missing presumed dead. Pilot Officer H F A Lees: report of death"

Airborne at 20:10 hrs on the evening of 19 July 1940 for mission to Wismar. Over Germany, coned by searchlights and hit by Flak of the Marine-Flak-Regiment 1, and crashed in the early hours of the following morning at Eckernförder Bucht bay, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, All six crew killed, no survivors.

Note that some sources credit the loss of Wellington L7795 as being the first "kill" of Luftwaffe "ace" Werner Streib (13 June 1911 – 15 June 1986) on the night of 19-20 July 1940. However, this had never been confirmed; other sources give the first "kill" of Werner Streib as an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V (P5007 of 51 Squadron).

Crew of Wellington L7795:
Pilot: Squadron Leader John Blackwell Sinclair Monypenny RAF 29098, aged 28 - posted as missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Davidson Middleton RAF 39105, aged 26 - posted as missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940.
Sgt Fred Watson RAF 580743, aged 24 - posted as missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940.
Sgt Walter Robert Cowell RAF 628277, aged 20 - posted as missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940
Sgt Merle Gott RAF 522865, aged 23 - posted as missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940
Air Gunner: Pilot Officer Harold Frederic Archidale Lees, RAFVR 78545, aged 32 - killed in action 20/07/1940 (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 07 May, 1940)

Five of the six crew were posted as "missing, presumed killed 20/07/1940". Since no trace of them was ever found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. The exception was Pilot Officer Harold F A Lees, who body was found and recovered; he was buried in Kiel War Cemetery, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 981/1152: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14503091
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077044/monypenny,-john-blackwell-sinclair/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1076789/middleton,-douglas-davidson/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1809756/watson,-fred/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1798599/gott,-merle/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Streib
8. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-eckernforde-6-killed
9. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=L7795
10. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

9 June 1941

T2620

9 Sqn RAF

5

North Sea off Vlissingen, Zeeland

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Jun-2008 19:29	JINX	Added
09-Jan-2012 07:35	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
21-Aug-2013 09:21	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
27-Apr-2015 18:58	ABBA	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Phase, Narrative]
29-Sep-2015 07:58	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
19-Jul-2019 19:44	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
18-Oct-2019 00:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
19-Jul-2023 06:30	Rob Davis	Updated [[Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]]