Date:	Tuesday 9 July 1940
Time:	11:45
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	21 Sqn RAF
Registration:	R3732
MSN:	YH-L
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Missing - North Sea. -   Denmark
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Blenheim R3732/L: "Took off at 08:00 hrs for a Bombing mission to Stavanger in Norway. 09/07/1940
One of seven aircraft assigned to this task (five aircraft from 21 Squadron and two from 57 Squadron). Aircraft did not return from this mission. Lost in sea without trace. Claimed as having been shot down by an aircraft of JG 77. No survivors among the crew of three. At 11:45 hrs the Blenheim reported to base that it had sustained battle damage. After that nothing was heard.

According to a published Danish source, roughly translated into English, which explains why the pilot of Blenheim R3732 ended up in Denmark:

".W/Cdr Leslie Clive Bennett managed to escape with his plane despite significant damage. At 11:45hrs, Wing Commander Bennett was in radio contact with another aircraft and he could tell that his injuries were so extensive that he could not reach back to England, and that he would attempt an emergency landing at sea.

RAF Kinloss maintained the radio connection with W/Cdr Bennett until 12:31 hrs. Despite an intensive search they were unable to find clues after the location of the plane and its crew. The body of Wing Commander Bennett was found on Lønstrup beach on September 28, 1940, and immediately afterwards he was buried in Lønstrup cemetery.

The body of W/Cdr Bennett was handed over to the German military authorities in Hjørring, who then authorized the funeral to be conducted through the Hjørring police chief. The funeral ceremony began with a prelude over the "God Save the King", after which the parish priest J F Lind Thomsen held the funeral speech, followed by half a hundred Lønstrup citizens and the German commander in Hjørring, Haupt. Zimmermann.

The Lønstrup lifeboat crew carried the coffin to the grave where the parish priest scattered earth over the coffin, and 21 German soldiers shot salutes over the grave."
Crew:
W/Cdr (16216) Leslie Clive BENNETT (NZ.Pilot) RAF - killed
Sgt (563808) Albert Thomas SUMMERS (Obs.) RAF - missing believed killed - Runnymede Memorial panel 20
Sgt (629928) Christopher James BURT (WOp/AG) RAF - missing believed killed - Runnymede Memorial panel 12

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1980)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1057: ---- /C14502669
3. https://www.cwgc.org/
4. http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C17747
5. https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/leslie-clive-bennett
6. CWGC
8. https://www.airmen.dk/a053001.htm
9. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Chichester.html ..

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Sep-2019 15:35	Nepa	Added [Operator, ]
10-Oct-2019 19:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
10-Oct-2019 19:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
10-Oct-2019 19:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
10-Oct-2019 19:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
03-Nov-2019 10:41	Anon.	Updated [Location, Operator, ]
08-Aug-2024 10:53	Nepa	Updated [Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative, Operator, ]
01-Aug-2025 15:57	MMR	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]