Date:	Wednesday 3 July 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Vickers Wellesley Mk 1
Owner/operator:	14 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L2652
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Dekemhare, SE of Asmara, Debub -   Eritrea
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Summit ALG, Port Sudan, Sudan
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Vickers Wellesley Mk.I L2652, 14 Sqaudron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Eritrea. All three crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1025): "Wellesley L2652 lost in air operations, Eritrea, 3 July 1940. Sergeant B L Trayhurn and Flying Officer S G Soderholm: missing presumed dead. Sergeant J C Dawson: report of death"

Took off from RAF Summit ALG, Port Sudan, Sudan, at 10.30 for an armed reconnaissance sortie over Eritrea. Shot down by CR.42 of Capt Mario Visintini Medaglia while on reconnaissance. According to the biography of Mario Visintini for this period: "During a reconnaissance flight over Dekemhare (Italianized as Decamerè), on 3 July 1940 (according to other authors, on 4 July), Visintini shot down another Wellesley (L2652), from No. 14 Squadron, flown by 26-year-old Flying Officer Samuel Gustav Soderholm (RAF No. 40194), who was killed in the crash."

Crew:
Flying Officer Samuel Gustav Soderholm (Pilot, aged 26) RAF 40194 - killed in action 03/07/1940
Sgt. Bernard Lloyd Trayburn (Observer, aged 28) RAF 562891 - killed in action 03/07/1940
Flight Sergeant (Wireless Op./Air Gunner, aged 21) John Clark Dawson RAF 545075 - killed in action 03/07/1940;

As no trace of F/O Soderholm or Sgt Trayburn was ever found, they are commemorated on the El Alamein War Memorial. The body of Flight Sgt Dawson was found and recovered, and he is buried at Asmara War Cemetery, Eritrea.

The reported crash location of Dekemhare (sometimes spelled Decamare) is a town in Eritrea, lying south east of Asmara at approximate Coordinates: 15°4′N 39°2′E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 18)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1025: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502864
3. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/18.htm
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1282612/soderholm,-samuel-gustav/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1282830/trayhurn,-bernard-lloyd/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2272067/dawson,-john-clark/
7. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/79233-vickers-wellesley-mk2/page/3/&tab=comments#comment-886086
8. http://aircrewremembered.com/plunkett-reginald.html
9. Italian Aces of World War 2 p 47 By Giorgio Apostolo
10. Gladiator vs CR.42 Falco: 1940–41 p 42 By Håkan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Visintini#Victories
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekemhare .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
08-Mar-2008 02:29	JINX	Added
01-Jul-2010 22:14	gz3zbz	Updated [Source, Narrative]
07-Oct-2019 18:04	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Oct-2019 18:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Narrative]
08-Oct-2019 11:08	juza7	Updated [Operator]