Date:	Tuesday 28 May 1940
Time:	12:05 LT
Type:	Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I
Owner/operator:	264 (Madras Presidency) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L7007
MSN:	PS-Z
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	English Channel near Wissant, NW of Dunkirk, Pas de Calais -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Manston, Ramsgate, Kent
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I L7007 (PS-Z) 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 81/663): "Defiant L7007 crashed at sea off the Dunkirk area, France, 28 May 1940.Pilot Officer A MacLeod and Acting Pilot Officer J E Hatfield: report of deaths".

Shot down in combat with Bf109s of 6./JG51 over the Channel north-west of Dunkirk 12.05 hrs. Possibly shot down by Oberlt Priller (Staffelkapitän) near Wissant. 264 Squadron claimed six German planes destroyed, for the loss of four of their own (L6953, L6957, L6959, and L7007) in the engagement

Crew of Defiant L7007:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Alexander MacLeod, RAF 42013, age 24, posted 28/05/1940, missing in action, presumed dead
Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) Jack Elmer Hatfield, RAF 40474 (Canadian), age 28, killed in action 28/05/1940, buried at Becklingen War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany

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, and Becklingen War Cemetery at Niedersachsen, Germany. This may explain why P/O Jack Hatfield was buried at the Becklingen War Cemetery - it was close to where his body was washed ashore.

As for the pilot, P/O MacLeod, no trace of him was ever found, and therefore he is commemorated on the Runnymede War Memorial.

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 81/663: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502246
3. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/264_squadron.html#2805
4. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=5118
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1079620/macleod,-alexander/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2199011/hatfield,-jack-elmer/
7. Air Battle for Dunkirk: 26 May - 3 June 1940 By Norman Franks .
8. The Boulton Paul Defiant: Day and Night Fighter By Phil H. Listemann
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wissant

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Aug-2019 19:21	Dr. John Smith	Added
28-Aug-2019 19:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Aug-2019 19:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
29-Aug-2019 04:11	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
16-Apr-2020 15:08	Allach	Updated [Operator, Operator]