Date:	Sunday 12 May 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk I
Owner/operator:	1 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L1688
MSN:	JX-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Maastricht, Limburg -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Berry-au-Bac, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 L1688, 1 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) in combat over Maastricht, Netherlands when shot down by Bf 109s of JG 27 during a bomber escort mission. Pilot bailed out safely. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/305): "Pilot Officer R G Lewis: missing, later reported safe and returned to unit; Hurricane lost in air operations, 12 May 1940"

Escorted a flight of Fairey Battles of 12 Squadron. Baled out after combat with Me 109's of 2./JG27 west of Maastricht. Pilot Officer Raymond Grant Lewis (Service Number 41852) landed in Belgium, was locked in a cellar by local civilians but eventually released. Another version is that he was captured by the Germans and freed by Belgian (or French/Senegalese) ground forces in a counterattack.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/305: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142154
3. Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War Vol. 1 by Norman L R Frank, p 19
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/1_squadron.html#1205
5. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html
6. https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T0543&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jul-2019 01:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Jul-2019 06:41	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
20-Mar-2020 11:51	TigerTimon	Updated [Aircraft type, Other fatalities, Location, Source]
21-Jun-2021 16:26	Zeta_Wolf_001	Updated [Narrative]
21-Jun-2021 18:32	Zeta_Wolf_001	Updated [Narrative]