Date:	Tuesday 24 September 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	83 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L4049
MSN:	OL-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Near Bethen (Niedersachsen), Lower Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Handley Page Hampden Mk.I L4049 (OL-A) of 83 Squadron, RAF Scampton. Lost on combat operations on night of 24/9/1940 when FTR (Failed To Return). Shot down by flak whilst returning from raid on Berlin. Hampden L4049 came down near Bethen (Niedersachsen), Lower Saxony, Germany. (At approximate co ordinates 52°51′55″N 8°03′44″E), Three of the crew of four were killed

Crew:
37667 Squadron Leader Anthony Oscar Bridgman DFC RAF - pilot, taken as PoW (No.1264).
40185 Alfred Frederick Blatch (Observer, aged 34) RNZAF killed.
550891 Sgt John Ernest Gorwood DFM (Wireless Op/Air Gunner, aged 20) RAF killed.
42945 Pilot Officer Francis Joseph Watson DFC RAF (Air Gunner, aged 27) killed.

The three crew fatalities were all buried as Becklingen War Cemetery. The sole survivor, Sqn Ldr Bridgman, survived the war - In fact he was in Stalag Luft 3 and helped in the famous "wooden horse" escape. Post war he married, had three children (all daughters) and died in 2006 at the age of 90.

1. Air Britain RAF Aircraft L1000-N9999
2. http://www.lostbombers.co.uk/bomber.php?id=122
3. v.urbansky@t-online.de Volker Urbansky from Cloppenburg found the crash site in April 2015
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2107150/blatch,-alfred-frederick/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2107740/gorwood,-john-ernest/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2390183/watson,-francis-joseph/
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8238-S-Ldr-A-O-Bridgeman-DFC-83-Squadron
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethen
9.https://aviationtrails.wordpress.com/heroic-tales-of-world-war-2/the-hand-of-fate-and-squadron-leader-anthony-o-bridgman-dfc/

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

6 June 1940

P1348

83 Sqn RAF

4

Barnkrug on the West bank of the River Elbe, 9 km North of Stade

w/o

finding parts at the Hampden c rash site in Bethen

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
11-Mar-2008 23:11	JINX	Added
23-Jun-2008 21:24	JINX	Updated
23-Jan-2012 04:49	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative]
05-Jul-2013 02:37	JINX	Updated [Operator, Location, Narrative]
23-Apr-2015 17:26	Anon.	Updated [Source, Photo, ]
11-Jun-2017 13:27	Uli Elch	Updated [Operator, Location]
23-Dec-2017 18:01	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative]
09-Jul-2018 17:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
09-Jul-2018 17:29	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
11-Nov-2018 12:07	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
27-Dec-2020 15:33	Mad Mitch	Updated [Source, Narrative]