Date:	Sunday 19 May 1940
Time:	06:05 LT
Type:	Westland Lysander Mk II
Owner/operator:	26 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N1290
MSN:	RM-K
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Authie-Thièvres road, 1 km West of Authie, Somme Department -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Authie Airfield, Somme, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Westland Lysander Mk.II N1290 (RM-K) 26 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost on combat operations on 19 May 1940. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 891/600): "Lysander N1290 crashed at Authie, France, 19 May 1940. Leading Aircraftman A F Church and Pilot Officer C I D Halliday: report of deaths"

Per an eyewitness report (see link #9): "On May 19, 1940, an English plane was shot down near Authie-Thièvres road. I went there with Roger Hossart and Léon Seillier. My mother accompanied us. She placed a bouquet of flowers on the temporary graves of the 2 airmen. Currently, they are buried in the Authie Cemetery".

According to an account of the team which excavated the wrecked airframe in December 2003: "The Lysander was hit in the Saint Quentin area, presumably by the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E of Feldwebel Willi Kothmann of JG 27. The Lysander attempted to return to its base and crashed 1 km before reaching the airfield. The aircraft was approaching low and at a reduced speed since it was found on its back and the engine was almost complete".

Crew:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Christopher Ian Dunbar Halliday, RAF 33424, killed in action 19/05/1940
Leading Aircraftman (Air Gunner) Arthur Frederick Church, RAFVR 936538, age 25, killed in action 19/05/1940,

Both crew members were buried at Authie Churchyard, Somme, France, at an unknown date after the liberation of France (that is, after September 1944). As can be deduced from the above, the crew of Lysander N1290 were initially buried in a temporary grave, only to be re-interred in a more permanent resting place some five years later.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1977 p 6)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/600: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502292
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2952795/halliday,-christopher-ian-dunbar/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2952794/church,-arthur-frederick/
5. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=2666
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/26_squadron.html#1905
7. http://aircrewremembered.com/halliday-christopher-ian-dunbar.html
8. December 2003 excavation: https://www.somme-aviation-39-45.fr/dossiers-decouvertes/lysander-mk-ii-authie-19-mai-1940/lysander-mk-ii-.html
9. Eyewitness account (French text): http://www.stleger.info/les72StLeger/region3/images/80b.mariejosee/80b.guerre2.htm

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

27 May 1940

L4782

26 Sqn RAF

2

Bleriot Plage, Sangatte, Calais, Pas de Calais

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Feb-2011 14:13	ThW	Added
24-May-2011 14:46	ThW	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]
19-Jun-2013 11:09	Nepa	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
20-Aug-2019 18:33	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]