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Date: | Sunday 19 May 1940 |
Time: | day |
Type: | Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 |
Owner/operator: | 87 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | L1612 |
MSN: | LK-W |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | near Fenain, 16 km E of Douai, Nord 59 -
France
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | Lille/Seclin Airbase, France |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Hawker Hurricane Mk.I L1612 (LK-W) 87 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat air patrol operations over Northern France. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/884): "Pilot Officer G C Saunders: report of death; aircraft failed to return from air operations, France, 19 May 1940"
Airborne from Lille/Seclin Airbase, France for a combat Air Patrol over Northern France. Reportedly shot down near Fenain, 16 km East of Douai, France by a Bf 110. Pilot killed. (Note that some sources give the crash location as "Mainrault" [sic).
Crew of Hurricane L1612:
Pilot Officer Gordon Cranleigh Saunders (pilot, RAF 41620, aged 23) - killed in action 19/05/40, buried at Fenian Communal Cemetery, Nord Department, France
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 11)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) Filre AIR 81/884:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502586 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2276587/saunders,-gordon-cranleigh/ 4. Their Finest Hour: Stories of the Men who Won the Battle of Britain (p 101) By Nick Thomas
5.
http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=764 6.
http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/87_squadron.html#1905 Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
25-Sep-2019 19:01 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
26-Sep-2019 11:30 |
stehlik49 |
Updated [Operator] |