Date:	Saturday 14 December 1940
Time:	c. 09:30 LT
Type:	Westland Lysander Mk II
Owner/operator:	6 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L6877
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Aircraft missing
Location:	Fort Maddalena, near Tobruk -   Libya
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Mersa Mantruh, Libya
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Westland Lysander Mk.II L6877/'JV-W', 6 Squadron RAF: Flt/Lt Dawes and Sgt Chantry took off near Mersa Mantruh in Lysander L6877 at 08:50 on 14th Dec 1940 to carry out a reconnaissance of Fort Maddalena near Tobruk, Libya, but failed to return.

The aircraft was seen to be shot down just over the Libyan border and that the two members of the crew were buried by soldiers where they had fallen. The graves though have not been found. Both crew also posted as "missing presumed killed". According to the file at the National Archives at Kew (File AIR 891/4560 - see link #2):

"Flight Lieutenant D T St H Dawes, Sergeant R Chantry: missing believed killed; failed to return from reconnaissance flight, Lysander L6877, 6 Squadron, 14 December 1940"

Crew of Lysander L6877:
Flight Lieutenant Denziel Thomas St. Hugh DAWES (37936) RAFVR - posted as "missing presumed killed" 14 December 1940
Sergeant Richard CHANTRY (939103) RAFVR aged 26 - posted as "missing presumed killed" 14 December 1940

The crew were buried near the aircraft, and are commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/4560: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16688658.
3. 6 Squadron ORB for December 1940: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR27/73/22: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407115
4. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1536418/denziel-thomas-st-hugh-dawes/
5. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1536185/richard-chantry/
6. http://www.stanwardine.com/malvernww1/ww2/Dawes_record_missing.pdf
7. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=L6877
8. https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/remembering-today-14-december-1940-the-crew-of-lysander-l6877.44215/
9. https://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/casualty/dawes-denziel-thomas-st-hugh/
10. http://www.stanwardine.com/cgi-bin/malvernww2.pl?id=61
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Wire_(Libya)#Fort_Maddalena
12. https://www.getamap.net/maps/libya/tubruq/_ridottamaddalena/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-May-2008 20:30	JINX	Added
09-Nov-2018 17:15	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
18-Apr-2022 19:29	Ron Averes	Updated [Damage]