Date: Saturday 8 June 1940
Time: day
Type: Silhouette image of generic bttl model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator: 103 Sqn RAF
Registration: N2253
MSN: PM-N
Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities: 0
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location: 40 miles north of Rouen, - France
Phase: Combat
Nature: Military
Departure airport: Ouzouer-le-Doyen, France
Destination airport:
Narrative:
Fairey Battle Mk.I N2253 (PM-N) 103 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations. All three crew survived, but were captured and taken as PoWs. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/841): "Battle N2253 crashed 40 miles north of Rouen, France, 8 June 1940. Sergeant G Beardsley, Temporary Leading Aircraftman G F Lewis and Sergeant G Avery: prisoners of war"
Battle N2253 was airborne from Ozouer-le-Doyen, on a mission to Sainte-Ceronne-les-Mortagne. Damaged by return fire while attacking Ju 87s and crash-landed South of Paris. This was the third time in less than a month that Sergeant Beardsley and his gunner, Leading Aircraftsman Lewis, had been shot down. They had previously been shot down on 14 May 1940 in Battle P2191 and again on May 25 1940 on a mission to Abbeville.
On the two previous occasions they had managed to return to the Squadron. Leading Aircraftsman Lewis had recently been awarded a DFM.
- https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/229148
- D7837 Foto Frankreich abgestürztes Französisches Flugzeug Kennung ID | eBay