Date:	Tuesday 12 September 1944
Time:	19:04
Type:	Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X
Owner/operator:	236 Sqn RAF
Registration:	NE746
MSN:	MB-Q
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	De Hors, Texel, Noord-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Coates, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The mission this night consisted of a bombing of a convoy that were in the Marsdiep and the port of Den Helder. Takeoff time for Beaufighter NE746 is 17:34 hrs. In total, did this night 39 Beaufighters of the 236th Squadron participated in the shooting that ended badly for the NE746 . This aircraft was hit several times by German flak making it exploded in the air .
The bombers were last night looking for enemy ships near the Dutch coast . In the Marsdiep at Den Helder they found a Navy assault boat , four freighters and ten escorting ships . The Beaufighters started an attack and the attack boat was successfully sunk . Then the Germans put the counterattack and become the German artillery put into effect . Both on the side as from some ships Get some Beaufighters the hard time but the majority of the 39 Beaufighters manages to escape . To the German fire However, do not return two sets this night back home .
The Crash of the Beaufighter NE746
This device become full hit in the wing and dives down. Then they are hit again in the fuel tank . Bill Tacon remember some of his bombs to dump but it's too late . The plane is hit in the torso and the rest of the ammunition catches fire and then exploded . Tacon hear Wilfred Brain Wardle scream but when he turns around he lies dead on the ground . Bill Tacon trying to escape from the burning and crashing plane but the escape hatch at the bottom of the unit refuses to open. The plane get back under fire after Tacon ultimately pretty burned his face with a parachute from the plane manages to escape . The last thing he could remember was that the plane had 360 knots had when violent explosion occurred a speed. Then he floated through the air and knew just in time to open . Parachute
Tacon country Texel but am almost immediately captured by German soldiers to bring him back to the shore of Den Helder . Bill Tacon get taken prisoner and get a transfer to Germany . There he ended up in Stalag Luft 1 prison where he is stuck for some time.
The body of the navigator washes up at De Mok on Texel island that same evening.
Crew:
W/Cdr (36196) Ernest William TACON DFC AFC (pilot) RAF - injured /PoW.
F/O (152.567) F/O Wilfred Brian WARDLE (nav.) RAFVR - killed

1.https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl
2.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1441460/Air-Commodore-Bill-Tacon.html
3.http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?13398-236-Sqn-Beaufighter-loss-12-09-1944

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

20 May 1944

LZ450

236 Sqn RAF

2

Scheurpolder 's-Gravenzande, 30 km W of Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
08-Nov-2011 08:53	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Total occupants]
13-Feb-2014 09:00	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Feb-2015 22:12	H.Shaft	Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Narrative]
03-Sep-2019 18:38	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Source, Narrative]
21-May-2021 15:58	Anon.	Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative, Operator]
15-Jun-2022 05:39	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
25-Oct-2022 10:55	Nepa	Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Operator]
25-Oct-2022 10:56	Nepa	Updated [Time, Location, Operator]
20-Nov-2022 19:08	Nepa	Updated [Narrative, Operator]