Date:	Sunday 12 May 1940
Time:	09:25
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	107 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P4914
MSN:	OM-F
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Voroux-Goreaux, 10 km west of Liège. -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Blenheim P4914/F: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations. 12/05/1941
According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/208): "Blenheim P4914 shot down at Voroux Goreux, Belgium, 12 May 1940. Pilot Officer O H Keedwell, Aircraftman 2nd Class L A Berridge and Sergeant L J Merritt report of deaths".

At 09:00 hrs no less than two complete Blenheim Mk.IV squadrons from Bomber Command attacked the bridges at Maastricht. It was again a bloody confrontation. Of the 24 planes no less than ten were downed. Simultaneously five Fairey Battles Mk.I light bombers of 12 Squadron attacked the nearby bridge at Vroenhoven. All five planes were shot down. Aerial photographs taken during the Blenheim mission showed that all 96 bombs had missed their targets.

Blenheim P4914 was airborne from Wattisham briefed to destroy the strategic bridges across the Albert Kanaal at Maastricht. It crashed at 09:25 hrs near Voroux-Goreaux (Liège), 10 km west of Liège. Cause not established, but probably shot down by flak and/or enemy fighters

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer Osborne Harvey Keedwell RAF 41427 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 10 October, 1939) [Killed]
Observer : Sergeant Leonard John Merritt RAF 563345 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Aircraftman 2nd Class Leslie Askham Berridge RAF 627034 [Killed]

All three crew fatalities were buried at Voroux-Goreux Communal Cemetery, Liège, Belgium

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1977)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/308: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142157
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2258831/keedwell,-osborne-harvey/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2258832/merritt,-leonard-john/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2258830/berridge,-leslie-askham/
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/107_squadron.html
7. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/20.htm
8. http://www.belgians-remember-them.eu/crash-lie-voro.php
9. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voroux-Goreux#Seconde_Guerre_mondiale,_1940
10. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

13 June 1940

R3616

107 Sqn RAF

3

Caugé (Eure), 9 km west of Evreux, Normandy.

w/o

Graves of the three crew of Blenheim P4914 at Voroux-Goreux Communal Cemetery, Liège, Belgium

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-Jul-2019 17:28	Dr. John Smith	Added
04-Jul-2019 06:42	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
13-Nov-2022 20:32	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
16-Apr-2024 14:45	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]