Date:	Saturday 11 May 1940
Time:	17:00 LT
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	17 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N2403
MSN:	YB-P
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	De Trekdam, 's-Gravendeel, Zuid-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 N2403 (YB-L) of 17 Squadron, RAF: Lost on combat operations - officially described as "Flying Officer G W Slee: report of death; Hurricane N2403 failed to return from an operational flight over The Hague, The Netherlands, 11 May 1940". Took off from RAF Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk to Patrol Den Haag – Delft – Rotterdam.

At 17.00 hrs on 11 May 1940, 17 Squadron claimed three Bf 109's (by Squadron Leader G.C. Tomlinson, Sgt A.F. Pavey and Flying Officer R.V. Meredith) and two Hs126's (by Flying Officer J. Jeffries and Sgt N.R. Wynn) destroyed, in combat over the Rotterdam/Delft/The Hague area. In reply, Bf 109s of JG 51 shot down five 17 Squadron Hurricanes (N2403, N2405, N2407, N2547 and P2758).

Hurricane N2403 came down at Gravendeel, west of Dordrecht, and south of Rotterdam; the pilot killed, but later, and not during the combat

Crew: Flying Officer (pilot) George William Slee, RAF 40149, age 27, killed in action 11/05/1940, buried at Gravendeel (Kerkstraat) General Cemetery, Netherlands

Flying Officer Slee's Hurricane N2403 was shot down by a Bf-109E of I./JG.51 at ' Gravendeel, after which he bailed out of his aircraft. He was almost certainly shot at from the ground by Dutch soldiers who thought they were dealing with a German parachutist. Seriously wounded, he was admitted to a hospital in Gravendeel where he died the next day. His tombstone incorrectly states May 11, 1940 as the date of death.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/255: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142080
3. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2635536/slee,-george-william/
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/17_squadron.html
6. http://www.zuidfront-holland1940.nl/index.php?page=slee-g-w
7. https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/3092/Commonwealth-War-Grave-%E2%80%98s-Gravendeel.htm
8. https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T0468C&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
9. Google Maps

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Jun-2019 23:51	Dr. John Smith	Added
21-Jun-2019 14:30	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
18-Mar-2020 08:26	TigerTimon	Updated [Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Source]