Date:	Friday 5 July 1940
Time:
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	101 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N6140
MSN:	SR-T
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Sylt, North Frisian Islands, Nordfriesland -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk
Destination airport:	RAF West Raynham, Norfolk

Narrative:
Blenheim N6140/T: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) fro combat operations over Germany. All three crew killed. Accoarding to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1019): "Blenheim N6140, crashed off the Island of Sylt, Germany, 5 July 1940. Sergeant R M Livermore, Wing Commander J H Hargroves and Sergeant E W Smith: report of deaths"

At the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 101 Squadron had just be re-equipped with the Bristol Blenheim IV. Until the summer of 1940, No. 101 Squadron was a reserve squadron. With the fall of France. 101 Squadron became operational from 1 July 1940, but its officer commanding, Wing Commander J H Hargroves, and his crew were lost on the squadron's first bombing mission on 5 July 1940. Believed shot down by flak/AAA ground fire, and crashed into the sea off Sylt, North Frisian Islands, Northern Germany, Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein. No survivors among the crew of three, and the body of one of the crew was never found. As the two crew members whose bodies were recovered were buried at Kiel War Cemetery, in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, it can be inferred that Kiel Dockyard was the intended target
Crew:
Sgt (550254) Robert Mark LIVERMORE (WOp/AG) RAF - missing, believed killed in action
W/Cdr (07128) Joseph Henry HARGROVES (Pilot) RAF CO at 101 Squadron - killed in action
Sgt (366413) Ewart William SMITH (Obs.) RAF - killed in action

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p 36)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1019: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502858
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1078796/livermore,-robert-mark/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356461/hargroves,-joseph-henry/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356829/smith,-ewart-william/
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/101_squadron.html
7. 101 Squadron ORB (Operational Record Book - Air Ministry Form 540) July 1940: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8436645
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylt

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Oct-2019 21:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Oct-2019 11:07	juza7	Updated [Operator]
02-Jan-2021 18:43	Juza7	Updated [Destination airport, Narrative, Operator]