Date:	Tuesday 11 June 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Vickers Wellington Mk Ic
Owner/operator:	149 (East India) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L7800
MSN:	OJ-K
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off West Flanders. -   Belgium
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk

Narrative:
Vickers Wellington Mk.1c L7800 (OJ-K) 149 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations on the night of 10-11 June 1940. All six crew missing, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/842): "Wellington L7800 failed to return from air operations, 11 June 1940. Sergeant G B Fleming, Sergeant M Murphy, Sergeant R Donaldson, Pilot Officer J R Swift, Pilot Officer M B Dawson and Flying Officer J S Douglas-Cooper: missing presumed dead"

Airborne from Mildenhall on the evening of June 10 1940. Target: Soissons. Last heard of calling for a fix which was plotted off the Belgian coast. Presumed crashed into the North Sea, off the Belgian coast, with the loss of all six crew.

Crew:
Flying Officer John Stainforth Douglas-Cooper, RAF 37964, age 31, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Pilot Officer Michael Benedict Dawson, RAF 42205, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Sergeant Geoffrey Bernard Fleming, RAF 581173, age 24, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Sergeant Robert Donaldson, RAF 542626, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed.
Sergeant Michael Murphy, RAF 624178, age 23, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Pilot Officer John Rupert Swift, RAFVR 77213, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed (NCO:746884 Commission Gazetted : Friday 16 February, 1940)

As all six crew were never found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/842: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502648
3. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-north-sea-6-killed
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/149_squadron.html#101106
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232400/douglas-cooper,-john-stainforth/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232007/dawson,-michael-benedict/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1270119/fleming,-geoffrey-bernard/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232351/donaldson,-robert/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077428/murphy,-michael/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1808308/swift,-john-rupert/
11. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Jun-2008 04:26	JINX	Added
09-Jan-2012 07:32	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Mar-2013 18:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Jun-2013 11:58	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Narrative]
21-Aug-2013 09:14	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source]
27-Apr-2015 18:55	ABBA	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator]
20-Sep-2019 16:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Nov-2022 05:49	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
10-Jun-2023 09:11	Rob Davis	Updated [[Location]]