Date:	Saturday 11 May 1940
Time:	18:20
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	21 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P6886
MSN:	YH-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	RAF Watton, Norfolk, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Watton, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF Watton

Narrative:
Blenheim P6886/R: Took off at 15:00 hrs for a attack a convoys between Maastricht, The Netherlands, and Tongres, Belgium, 11/05/1940
He was Damaged by AA fire. Landing at 18:20 hrs.
Crew:
P/O (42243) Donald MacDONALD (pilot) RAF - Ok
Sgt ???? SIDLOW (obs.) RAF - Ok
AC1 (628854) Robert CHARLETON (WOp/AG) RAF - killed

21 Squadron took off at mid-afternoon on May 11th 1940, overflying Holland and Belgium at around 15,000 ft, through sporadic anti-aircraft fire from 'friendly' gunners, whose aircraft recognition left much to be desired, eventually spotting the long line of vehicles that were to be the target.

At 16:30 hours Squadron Leader Pryde took his bombers down into the attack. The defences, in and around, Maastricht to put up a dense curtain of flak as the Blenheims shallow dive-bombed and gained hits on an assortment of vehicles that clogged the road. Aircraftman Robert Charleton, the air gunner in Pilot Officer P. MacDonald's Blenheim, P6886, was killed by shrapnel during the attack, while no less than eight of the Squadron's aircraft were unserviceable due to battle damage (bullet holes) the following morning.

Of the three crew on board Blenheim P6886, one was killed: Aircraftman 1st Class (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) Robert Charleton, RAF 628854, age 31, killed in action 11/05/1940, buried at Belfast (Milltown) Roman Catholic Cemetery, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

AC.1 Robert 'Paddy' Charleton was killed by the only bullet that hit the machine and that bullet pierced his lung. Otherwise, it was considered to be a "Pretty successful raid despite the Ack-Ack over target and from points all the way over."

Blenheim P6886 had been delivered to 21 Squadron on 16 October 1939, and was struck off charge due to 'Battle Damage' on 29 May 1940. Crew P/O L.M. Blanckensee, Sgt. A. Williams and Sgt. J. Guest.

NOTE: Several published sources quote the serial number of the Blenheim involved as "P6806"; however, P6806 was an Airspeed Oxford Mk.II (one of 75 delivered between November 1939 and June 1940, serials P6795 to P6880)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1978 p 36)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/272: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142097
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2931105/charleton,-robert/
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/93/a2348093.shtml
5. https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/charleton-r-%C2%A5/
6. The Battle of France Then and Now (Peter D. Cornwell) ISBN 1-870067-65-7

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

18 July 1941	Z7502	21 Sqn RAF	1	English Channel, near Cap Gris-Nez, the Pas-de-Calais.		w/o
28 August 1941	V5825	21 Sqn RAF	1	North Sea, south-west of Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Jun-2019 23:29	Dr. John Smith	Added
22-Jun-2019 23:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
22-Jun-2019 23:34	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
25-Jun-2019 05:45	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
25-Nov-2023 10:53	Anon.	Updated [Source, Narrative]