ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 229541
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| Date: | Wednesday 19 June 1940 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk Ia |
| Owner/operator: | 9 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | N2897 |
| MSN: | WS-P |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea (Target: Leverkussen, Germany) -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Honington, Suffolk |
| RAF Honington, Suffolk |
Vickers Wellington Mk.Ia N2897 (WS-P) 9 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Germany. All six crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry File into the incident (File AIR 81/955): "Wellington N2897 failed to return from an operational flight, believed to have force landed in the North Sea, 19 June 1940. Sergeant C Naylor, Sergeant A T Legg, Sergeant I M McCulloch, Sergeant R G Elliott, Sergeant K B Brennan and Pilot Officer F C J Butler: missing presumed dead".
Airborne at 21:50 on 18 June 1940 from RAF Honington, Suffolk. Target Leverkussen, Germany. One of seven aircraft tasked with this particular raid. Crashed in the North Sea, presumed off the coast of Germany, although not clear if the Wellington was en route to or on the way back from the target. Wellington N2897 was the only one of the seven aircraft dispatched to Fail To Return. A search operation was conducted the next day, but no trace of Wellington N2897 or any of its crew of six was found.
Crew of Wellington N2897:
Pilot Officer Francis Charles Joseph Butler, RAFVR 76576, age 25, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant Raymond Graham Elliott, RAFVR 740509, age 24, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant Alan Thomas Legg, RAFVR 902217, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant Kevin Barry Brennan, RAF 549506, age 19, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant Charles Naylor, RAF 581407, age 20, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
Sergeant Ian Maywood McCulloch, RAFVR 901582, age 23, posted 19/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed in action
As no trace of Wellington N2897 or the crew of six was ever found, all six crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/955: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502406
3. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/9_squadron.html#181906
4. http://aircrewremembered.com/francis-butler.html
5. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Surrey/GodalmingCharthouseSchoolWW2.html
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530972/butler,-francis-charles-joseph/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269552/elliott,-raymond-graham/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803280/legg,-alan-thomas/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530382/brennan,-kevin-barry/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077534/naylor,-charles/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1079225/mcculloch,-ian-maywood/
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 15 November 1940 | L7852 | 9 Sqn RAF | 0 | near Zuid-Scharwoude and Broek op Langedijk, Noord-Holland |  |
w/o |
| 23 April 1942 | X3638 | 9 Sqn RAF | 3 | near 'Ottermeer' farm at Nispen, Noord-Brabant | |
w/o |
| Shot down | ||||||
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 01-Oct-2019 16:35 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 02-Oct-2019 10:17 | stehlik49 | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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