Date:	Sunday 12 May 1940
Time:	09:20 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	12 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L5439
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Neerharen, Limburg -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Amifontaine, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.1 L5439 (PH-N) 12 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations. All three crew survived, but were taken as PoWs. According to the official Air Ministry File on the incident (File AIR 81/292): "Battle L5439 crashed near Maastricht, The Netherlands, 12 May 1940. Pilot Officer I A McIntosh, Sergeant N T W Harper and Leading Aircraftman R P MacNaughton prisoners of war".

Crew of Battle L5439:
Pilot Officer I.A.McIntosh (Pilot) - survived, captured, taken as PoW; interned Camps L1/L3, PoW No.104.(Australian national serving in the RAF).
Sgt N.T.W.Harper (Observer) - survived, captured, taken as PoW; interned in Camps L1/L6/357, PoW No.88.
LAC R.P.MacNaughton (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) - survived, captured, taken as PoW; in Camps 8B/L3/L1, PoW No.13048

Battle L5439 was airborne at 08:22 hrs from Amifontaine with orders to destroy a metal bridge (the Veldwezelt Bridge) spanning the Albert Kanaal near Maastricht, Netherlands. Hit by Flak in main fuel tank and crash-landed, on fire, near Neerharen (Limburg), 14 km SE of Genk, Belgium.

According to a published account of the operation L5439 was the second of a formation of three 12 Squadron Fairey Battles to attack this bridge (the others being P2204/PH-K and L5277/PH-J):

"They flew below the cloud base at 1000 feet and on reaching the Veldwezelt area started a shallow bombing run. There were estimated to be some 300 guns entrenched in a defensive ring around the bridge, and the aircraft was blasted into the ground.

The second Battle L5439, piloted by P/O I A McIntosh, was hit in the main fuel tank, setting the aircraft ablaze, he jettisoned his bombs and made a forced landing and survived as a prisoner of war".

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James j Halley, Air Britain 1978)
2. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/292: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142141
4. http://www.626-squadron.co.uk/willem29.htm
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/12_squadron.html
6. http://aircrewremembered.com/norman-thomas.html
7. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=39837
8. http://www.binbrook.demon.co.uk/html/Fairey_Battle.html
9. http://www.wickenbymuseum.co.uk/Museum/Newsletters/Newsletter%20January%202013.pdf
10. https://www.hangarflying.eu/erfgoedsites/monument-bemanning-fairey-battle-l5227/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Jun-2019 22:47	Dr. John Smith	Added
30-Jun-2019 10:27	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
07-Nov-2022 19:57	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]