Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1940
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	242 ("All Canadian") Sqn RAF
Registration:	L1746
MSN:	LE-L
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Ostend, West Flanders -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I L1746 (LE-L) 242 (Canadian) Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 28 May 1940 over Belgium. Pilot, survived, bailed out, but was captured and taken as a PoW. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/639): "Hurricane L1746 crashed near Ostend, Belgium, 28 May 1940. Flight Lieutenant A H Deacon: prisoner of war"

Airborne from RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, Kent for a combat air patrol over Belgium. Shot down by a Bf-109 while on patrol. Pilot bailed out, parachuted down to earth, but landed in enemy territory, and was captured.

Crew of Hurricane L1746:
Sergeant Arthur Harry Deacon (RAF 49756); survived, bailed out, held as a PoW at PoW Camp Stalg Luft III, Sagan, Poland as PoW No. 465

Note that 242 (Canadian) Squadron lost two aircraft over the Ostend area on 28 May 1940 - L1746 and N2651. One pilot was killed - Pilot Officer D F Jones - and one survived to be captured and taken as a PoW - Flight Lieutenant A H Deacon. Unofficial published sources (see links #3 & #4) puts P/O Jones in Hurricane L1746, and Flt Lt Deacon in Hurricane N2651. However, the AIR 81 files seem to confirm which pilot was in which aircraft.

Flt Lt Deacon Lived at Invernay (Saskatchewan, Canada) and went back there after the war, moved to Vancouver (B.C.) in 1954, where he owned an Esso service station ("Deacon's Service"). He died on 2 May 2007 aged 91.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 12)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File Air 81/639: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502060
3. Hurricane Squadron Ace: The Story of Battle of Britain Ace, Air Commodore Peter Brothers DSO DFC By Nick Thomas
4. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost.php?p=63394&postcount=48
5. http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=105008;article=14779
6. https://www.unithistories.com/officers/raf_officers_d01.html
7. https://www.avions-bateaux.com/uploads/attachment/produit//produit_2266_c68c8adbc2ef73b79e523d739dd678bc.pdf p 74

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Aug-2019 00:12	Dr. John Smith	Added
25-Aug-2019 00:13	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
27-Aug-2019 06:39	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
13-Apr-2020 14:29	Investig	Updated [Operator, Operator]
07-Nov-2022 02:01	Ron Averes	Updated [Operator, Location]
23-May-2023 17:55	Nepa	Updated [[Operator, Location]]