Date:	Sunday 19 May 1940
Time:	11:15 LT
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	150 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P5235
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Le Chene Tonneau, Barby, 3 miles W of Rethel, Rheims, Ardennes -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Pouan-les-Vallees, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I P5235 (JN-H) 150 Squadron RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 19 May 1940. All three crew survived, but were captured and taken as PoWs. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/488): "Battle P5235 landed safely in occupied territory, Reims, France, 19 May 1940. Aircraftman 1st Class W G Slade, Sergeant G W Clifford and Pilot Officer D E T Osment: prisoners of war"

The six Fairey Battles of 150 Squadron took of from Pouan-le-Vallees, 75 miles ESE of Paris with Pilot Officer David Ernest Thomas Osment (RAF 40742) flying Fairy Battle P5235 (JN-H). On the way to their assigned target the six Battles ran into heavy AA fire from the town of Rethel. This plus bad weather made the target hard to find and the leader R.M.Bradly dropped his bombs on an AA battery of four guns and scored a direct hit. The others bombed whatever they could find but few results were seen. Battle P5235 flown by Osment did not return, neither did two Battles from 12 Squadron and three from 142 Squadron.

P/O David Osment’s aircraft was badly damaged in action near Rethel by AA fire and belly landed near “Le Chêne Tonneau” at Barby, 3 miles West of Rethel at 11.15 a.m on that day. Osment was captured by German forces near Charleville, some 25 miles to the North of the crash site while his two crew members, Sgt G.W.Clifford and AC.1 W.G.Slade were captured to the South near Reims”

Crew of Battle P5235:
Pilot Officer David Ernest Thomas Osment (pilot, RAF 40742); survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned in PoW Camps 9AH/L3, as PoW No.506.
Sgt G.W. Clifford (Observer, RAF 524803); survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned in PoW Camps 8B/L6/357 as PoW No.13058
AC.1 W.G. Slade (Wireless Op./Air Gunner, RAF 616565); survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned in PoW Camps 8B/L6/357 as PoW No.13093

David Osment spent the remainder of the war a prisoner in Stalag Luft III. On returning to Britain in 1945 he rejoined the RAF having originally been commissioned a Pilot Officer on May 7th 1938. He served into the 1950′s ending his career there as a Squadron Leader in 1965

David Ernest Thomas Osment was born on the island of St Vincent, West Indies about 1918 and died in 2008 in England aged 90.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 29)
2. The Battle File (Sidney Shail, Air Britain, 1997 p 168)
3. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/488: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502189
4. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=3613
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/150_squadron.html#1905
6. http://aircrewremembered.com/osment-david.html
7. https://www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com/?p=434
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?366-Battle-P-5235
9. http://www.cieldegloire.com/002_raf_empire_st_vincent.php

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
03-Aug-2019 00:10	Dr. John Smith	Added
03-Aug-2019 00:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
04-Aug-2019 11:15	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]