Date:	Tuesday 14 May 1940
Time:	16:20 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	218 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2360
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Sedan, Ardennes -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Aubérive-sur-Suippes, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I P2360 (HA-V) 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations 14 May 1940. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/353): "Battle L2360* [sic] lost in air operations, 14 May 1940. Aircraftman 2nd Class W C Waterson and Pilot Officer R T L Buttery: missing presumed dead".

The events of 14th May 1940 determined both of the A.A.S.F. and of the campaign. The French High Command called for a supreme effort at Sedan, where the ground forces massing for counter-attack had been rudely scattered. Arrangements were accordingly made for the whole strength of the Allied bombers in France to be hurled against the Sedan bridgehead in a series of waves, and soon after noon the few French aircraft available went into action. Attacking bridges and columns of troops, they suffered losses so severe that their remaining operations for the day were cancelled.

Then came the turn of the A.A.S.F. Between 15:00 and 16:00 hours the entire force of available Battles and Blenheims was flung against the same objectives. But the Bf.109's absent in the morning, were now on guard. No. 12 Squadron lost four aircraft out of five; No. 105 Squadron, six out of eleven; No. 142 Squadron lost four, No. 150 Squadron, four out of four; No. 139 Squadron, four out of six; No. 218 Squadron, ten out of eleven. In all, from the seventy-one bombers which took off, forty did not return. No higher rate of loss in an operation of comparable size has even been experienced by the Royal Air Force.

Battle P2360 of 218 Squadron took off from Aubérive-sur-Suippes, France, to attack bridges and roads in the area around Sedan, Ardennes. Lost without trace - officially both the aircraft and two crew were posted as "missing, presumed dead"

Crew of Battle P2360:
Pilot Officer Robert Thomas Lothian Buttery (Piloy), RAF 70894, missing in action, presumed killed 14/05/1940
Aircraftman 2nd Class William Coates Waterston, RAF 630224, missing in action, presumed killed 14/05/1940

As no trace of the aircraft or crew was ever found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Note that the official Air Ministry file (File AIR 81/343) mis-quotes the serial number of this Fairey Battle as L2360 instead of P2360 (L2360 was a Blackburn Shark Mk.II)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 13)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/353: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502157
3. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p 168)
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1531000/buttery,-robert-thomas-lothian/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1809715/waterston,-william-coates/
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/218_squadron.html#1405
7. Aircraft Record Card (Air Ministry File AM.78): https://218squadron.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p2360.jpg (front) and https://218squadron.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p2360a.jpg (back)
8. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=1926

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jul-2019 20:59	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Jul-2019 21:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
11-Jul-2019 09:22	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]