Date:	Sunday 19 May 1940
Time:	11:30 LT
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	1 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2805
MSN:	JX-J
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Montapeine and Rougeville, 5 km E of La Ferte-sous-Jourre -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Berry-au-Bac, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P2805 (JX-J) 1 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return from a combat air patrol on 19 May 1940. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/416): "Hurricane crash landed after being shot [down] between Montapeine and Rougeville, France, 19 May 1940. Flying Officer P H M Richey injured".

According to unofficial published sources, the Hurricane involved was P2805 of 1 Squadron, RAF, and was shot down in air to air combat with a He 111 of KG.27 which returned fire after being attacked, near Château-Thierry, and the Hurricane crashed between Montapeine and Rougeville, 5 km East of La Ferte-sous-Jourre, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne départment in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. (At approximate co ordinates: 48°56′59″N 3°07′49″E)

At 11.30 hrs No. 1 Squadron had intercepted a formation of He111's and claimed four destroyed German aircraft, for the loss of two Hurricanes (P2805 and L1925). The pilot - Flying Officer P H M Richey in Hurricane P2805 - bailed out by parachute, and was injured

F/O Paul Henry Mills Richey was hit by enemy fire receiving a bullet wound to the neck. F/O Richey was recovered and taken to a hospital in Paris, where the bullet was removed. He spent the rest of the Battle of France in the hospital and returned to the United Kingdom in June 1940 where he received a DFC. The crash on 19 May 1940 was the third time he had been shot down in nine days; he had previously been shot down on 10 May 1940 in Hurricane L1679/JX-G and on 11 May 1940 in Hurricane L1685.

He later served in 609 (West Riding) and 74 (Tiger) Squadrons, rising to the rank of Wing Commander and being awarded the DFC and bar, as well as the DSO. Richey also received both the Belgian and French Croix de Guerre. He subsequently wrote an account of his time as a pilot during the initial campaign in France entitled 'Fighter Pilot' (see link #7). His total tally in air to air combat was 11 victories.

Paul Henry Mills Richey was born 7 May 1916, and died on February 23 1989 aged 72

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 16)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/416: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502087
3. Norman L.R. Franks, Fighter Command Losses, Vol 1, 1939-1941, Second edition, Midland, 2008
4. https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/46655/Richey-Paul-Henry-Mills.htm?c=aw
5. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/25008
6. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=721
7. Biography of Paul Mills Richey, RAF: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1188922.Paul_Richey
8. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/1_squadron.html#1905
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fert%C3%A9-sous-Jouarre .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
20-Jul-2019 23:05	Dr. John Smith	Added
20-Jul-2019 23:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
21-Jul-2019 20:06	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]