Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1940
Time:	07:45
Type:	Westland Lysander Mk II
Owner/operator:	16 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P1720
MSN:	KJ-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	St. Momelin, Longuenesse, 5 km North of St. Omer -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Lympne, Lympne, Kent (LYM/EGMK)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Westland Lysander Mk.II P1720 (KJ-R) 16 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 28 May 1940. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/619): "Lysander L1720 [*sic] failed to return from an operational flight over Dunkirk, France, 28 May 1940. Sergeant R E Brown and Flight Lieutenant W R Clapham - report of deaths".

Lysander P1720 was hit by ground fire and crashed on land owned by Mr Cours just outside St.Momelin about 07.45 hrs during a Tactical Reconnaissance mission at low level, and crashed near Longuenesse, 5 km north of St. Omer. The remains of both crew members were recovered from the crash location by Mr Monsterlet, a local garage-keeper, and initially buried at a secret location. He tended the graves until they were moved to the Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery in the late 1940's (that is, post-war)

Crew of Lysander P1720:
Flight Lieutenant (Pilot) William R. Clapham, RAF 25077, Mentioned in Despatches, age 29, killed in action 28/05/1940
Sergeant (Air Gunner) Roy Ernest Brown, RAF 566296, age 23, killed in action 28/05/1940

AS stated above, the two crew fatalities were buried at Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, but not until the late 1940s. The reported crash location of Saint-Momelin is a commune in the Nord department in northern France at approximate Coordinates: 50°47′39″N 2°15′06″E.

NOTE: The official Air Ministry file into the incident (File Air 81/619) is in error, as the Lysander involved was P1720 and NOT L1720. (Serial L1720 was allocated to a Hawker Hurricane of 111 Squadron, which was shot down on 19 May 1940).

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 9)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/619: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502040
3. Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279748/clapham,-william-roy/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279736/brown,-roy-ernest/
6. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=4384
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/16_squadron.html#2805
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=8144
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Momelin

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Aug-2019 20:06	Dr. John Smith	Added
22-Aug-2019 20:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
23-Aug-2019 16:30	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]