Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1940
Time:	12:05 LT
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I
Owner/operator:	264 (Madras Presidency) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L6953
MSN:	PS-P
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	English Channel near Wissant, NW of Dunkirk, Pas de Calais -   France
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I L6953 (PS-P) 264 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from a combat air patrol over the Dunkirk-Calais sector. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/660): "Defiant L6953 crashed in the Dunkirk area, France, 28 May 1940. Sergeant H Revill and Sergeant L C W Daisley".

Shot down in combat with Bf109s of 6./JG51 over the Channel north-west of Dunkirk 12.05 hrs. Possibly shot down by Lt Huppertz. 264 Squadron claimed six German planes destroyed, for the loss of four of their own (L6593, L6957, L6599, and L7007)

Crew of Defiant L6953:
Sergeant (Pilot) Lionel Charles William Daisley, RAFVR 741278, killed in action 28/05/1940, buried Wissant Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
Sergeant (Air Gunner) Harold Revill, RAFVR 747795, killed in action 28/05/1940, buried at Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany

Note that the two crew were buried in separate cemeteries in two different countries. Many Dunkirk victims were washed ashore on the Frisian isles, in the North of the Netherlands and Germany. Those that washed ashore in Germany were mostly buried at Sage War Cemetery, at Niedersachsen, Germany. This may explain why Sgt Harold Revill was buried at the Sage War Cemetery - it was close to where his body was washed ashore. Likewise. Sgt Lionel Daisley was buried at Wissant Cemetery close to where the wreckage of Defiant L6953 came down.

The reported crash location for Defiant L6953 was Wissant (from the Dutch "wit zand"; equal to English "white sand") a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France, at approximate co ordinates: 50°53′10″N 1°39′49″E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 48)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/660: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502243
3. 264 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book)(Air Ministry Form AM/F.540) for the period 1/10/1939 to 31/5/1940: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/1553/1 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8397999
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/264_squadron.html#2805
5. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=775
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2281071/daisley,-lionel-charles-william/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2074081/revill,-harold/
8. Air Battle for Dunkirk: 26 May - 3 June 1940 By Norman Franks
9. The Boulton Paul Defiant: Day and Night Fighter By Phil H. Listemann .
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wissant

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Aug-2019 22:01	Dr. John Smith	Added
27-Aug-2019 22:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
27-Aug-2019 22:03	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Aug-2019 12:20	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
28-Aug-2019 19:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
16-Apr-2020 15:07	Allach	Updated [Operator, Operator]
01-Jul-2022 20:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Category]