Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1940
Time:	11:45 LT
Type:	Hawker Hurricane Mk 1
Owner/operator:	213 (Ceylon) Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2792
MSN:	AK-C
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Dunkerque, Pas de Calais -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manston, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I P2792 (AK-C) 213 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) 28 May 1940 when lost (failed to return) from a combat air patrol over the Calais-Dunkirk sector. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/651): "Hurricane P2792 crashed in the Dunkirk area, France, 28 May 1940. Pilot Officer L G B Stone: report of death"

Took off from RAF Manston, Kent, for a combat air patrol, covering the evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk (Operation "Dynamo"). In addition, the squadron was tasked to provide "top cover" to Bristol Blenheims of 12 Squadron, which had been assigned to bomb enemy troop columns at St. Omer. May 28th 1940 was a bad day for 213 Squadron - they lost five aircraft in one day - three of them (P2792, P2721 and P3834) in the space of a few minutes at around 11:45 hours

Crew of Hurricane P2792:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Laurence George Beauchamp Stone (RAF 43695) - killed in action 28/05/40

Although, officially, no trace of the pilot or his aircraft was ever found, and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial as "missing in action", there are reports that his body was, in fact, retrieved from the English Channel off Dunkerque by the Royal Navy, and was buried at sea with full military honours.

Laurence George Beauchamp Stone (then a Sergeant Pilot) was the pilot of Spitfire I N3036, which was written off following an engagement with a He 111 on 11 January 1940, when he was 66 Squadron. This has led to unofficial published sources listing him as a Spitfire pilot with 66 Squadron - which was true in January 1940, but not at the time of his death on 28 May 1940. (He was transferred from 66 Squadron (Spitfires) to 213 Squadron (Hurricanes) on 14 April 1940).

The same pilot had already been shot down once as a Hurricane pilot with 213 Squadron, on 19 May 1940 in Hurricane N2538; on that occasion, he survived and returned to his unit

1. Hawker Hurricane P1000-P9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 16)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/651: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502234
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1808096/stone,-laurence-george-beauchamp/
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/213_squadron.html#2805
5. http://allspitfirepilots.org/pilots/1088
6. Previously shot down 19/05/40: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/438: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502109
7. http://aircrewremembered.com/edward-george-winning.html
8. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21030-Spitfire-N3036-of-66-Sqn-RAF-on-11-January-1940

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Aug-2019 21:37	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Aug-2019 06:40	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
03-Nov-2019 11:00	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]