ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 53924
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| Date: | Thursday 13 June 1940 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Bristol Blenheim Mk IV |
| Owner/operator: | 82 (United Provinces) Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | L8829 |
| MSN: | UX-P |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | North Sea, off Friesland -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Watton, Norfolk |
| RAF Watton, Norfolk |
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV L8829 (UX-P) 82 (United Provinces) Sqaudorn, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations. All three crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/879): "Blenheim P8829 [*sic] believed crashed at sea off the coast of the Netherlands, 13 June 1940. Sergeant L D Nineham: missing presumed dead. Sergeant N W Carlile and Sergeant A E Merritt: report of deaths"
Airborne at 15:04 from RAF Watton, Norfolk. Tasked with attacking enemy Panzer tank columns in the Forêt de Gault, near Bourth, France. Cause of loss not established, but believed damaged by flak/AAA in the battle area, and crashed into the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands. All three crew killed, but only two bodies were washed ashore on the Netherlands coast. Note that the three crew were commemorated in three separate locations, and the two that were buried, were buried in two different cemeteries in two different countries. The burial locations were probably determined by where the bodies were washed up.
Crew of Blenheim L8829:
Sergeant (Pilot) Albert Edward Merritt, RAF 523851, age 22, killed in action 13/06/1940, buried at Sage War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
Sergeant (Observer) Neville William Carlile, RAF 581270, age 23, killed in action 13/06/1940, buried at Harlingen General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherlands
Sergeant Leslie D. Nineham, RAF 551747, posted 13/06/1940, as missing in action, presumed killed. As no trace of Sgt Nineham was ever found, he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
Note that the official Air Ministry file AIR 81/879 is incorrect: the Blenheim involved was L8829 and NOT P8829. The serial P8829 was allocated to an Airspeed Oxford Mk.I of the RAF College, Cranwell, which was wrecked when it crashed into a wall near Rauceby, Lincolnshire, on 24 September 1940.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 59)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/879: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502525
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2073980/merritt,-albert-edward/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2649060/carlile,-neville-william/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077733/nineham,-leslie-donald/
6. http://www.prk-aviation.nl/Military%20aircraft%20losses%201940-1945%20WWII.htm
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/82_squadron.html#1306
8. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1940-1949_28.html
9. https://wo2-hoekschewaard.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/register19401.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 13-Mar-2014 10:30 | Nepa | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport] |
| 06-Jan-2018 14:55 | XindelX | Updated [Operator, Phase, Narrative] |
| 26-Sep-2018 07:53 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 24-Sep-2019 23:12 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Jun-2022 03:40 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
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