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Date: | Monday 8 July 1940 |
Time: | night |
Type: | Handley Page Hampden Mk I |
Owner/operator: | 83 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | L4066 |
MSN: | OL-D |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Great Holland, 3 miles NE of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Handley Page Hampden Mk.I L4066 (OL-D) 83 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed to Return) during combat operations over Germany. Aircraft crashed near Clacton-on-Sea, Essex on outbound journey. All four crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/81041): "Hampden L4066 crashed near Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, 8 July 1940. Sergeant L Howard, Sergeant B Kinton, Sergeant C R Hallett and Pilot Officer O H Launders: report of deaths".
Airborne from RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire on the evening of July 7 1940. On that evening, a force of 18 Hampdens, 12 Whitleys and 12 Wellingtons were tasked with raids over Germany. The targets were Frankfurt, Soest, Duisberg and Dortmund-Ems. L4066 was assigned to bomb Frankfurt, with Dortmund (and/or the Dortmund-Ems Canal) as the secondary target. On the outbound leg from RAF Scampton, Hampden L4066 crashed between Great Holland and Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, some three miles North East of Clacton-on-Sea.
No survivors among the four crew; Sgt Leonard Howard survived the initial crash, but died of his wounds later the same day. The bodies of all four crew were recovered and were buried in cemeteries local to their families.
Crew of Hampden L4066:
Sergeant Leonard Howard (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) RAF 552504, aged 18 - killed in action 08/07/1940, buried at Liverpool (Ford) Roman Catholic Cemetery, LIverpool, UK
Sergeant Basil Kinton (Observer) RAF 523885 - killed in action 08/07/1940, buried at Huntingdon (Priory Road Cemetery), Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK
Sergeant Cyril Richard Hallett (Observer) RAF 564194 - killed in action 08/07/1940, buried at Woodford (All Saints) Churchyard, Wiltshire, UK
Pilot Officer Oliver Harry Launders (Pilot) RAF 41715 - killed in action 08/07/1940, buried at Scampton (St. John The Baptist) Churchyard, Scampton, Lincolnshire, UK
The reported crash location of Great Holland is a village in Essex, located to the north-east of Holland-on-Sea, and west of Frinton-on-Sea, at approximate coordinates: 51.833333 / 1.216667.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1041:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502907 3.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2412128/howard,-leonard/ 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2949810/kinton,-basil/ 5.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2710541/hallett,-cyril-richard/ 6.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2358873/launders,-oliver-harry/ 7.
http://www.lostancestors.eu/memwar/memorials/S/Scampton1/Launders,_O_Hkl.jpg 8.
https://scamptonchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/38-Launders.pdf 9.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Holland Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
09-Oct-2019 17:16 |
Dr. John Smith |
Added |
09-Oct-2019 17:17 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
10-Oct-2019 16:36 |
juza7 |
Updated [Operator] |
30-May-2022 05:36 |
Rob Davis |
Updated [Narrative] |