Date:	Tuesday 10 October 1939
Time:	night
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk I
Owner/operator:	108 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L1219
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Irish Sea, off Oxwich Point, Gower Peninsula, Wales -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire
Destination airport:	RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire

Narrative:
Blenheim L1219: Took off for a Night Training flight /navigation exercise. 10/10/1939
Missing on a night navigation exercise, believed crashed into sea off the coast of Wales at night on 10/10/39, off Oxwich Point, Gower Peninsula (at Map Reference SB93SW Grid Reference SB9487834484).
Crew:
Sgt (580939) Frederick George BRYANT (pilot) RAF - killed
Sgt (740112) Phillip Geoffrey Vezey HEMSLEY (obs.) RAFVR - killed
AC.2 (625176) James SHEARER (Air Gunner) RAF - killed

The crew is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial: BRYANT panel 1, HEMSLEY panel 2 and SHEARER panel 3.

Blenheim L1219 was on the returning leg of a cross-country training flight from its base in RAF Bicester. It was seen to fly extremely low over the village of Port Eynon before diving into sea off Oxwich Point.

1. Halley, J J, Air Britain, 1993, Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000 to N9999, page 9
2. National Airchives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/1576: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16359492
3. http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/515589/details/bristol-blenheim-i-l1219
4. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1939a.htm
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530722/bryant,-frederick-george/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1799898/hemsley,-phillip-geoffrey-vezey/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1806999/shearer,-james/
8. http://www.ggat.org.uk/timeline/pdf/Military%20Aircraft%20Crash%20Sites%20in%20Southeast%20Wales.pdf
9. http://www.brightoncollegeremembers.com/roll-of-honour/philip-geoffrey-vezey-hemsley
10. https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/phillip-geoffrey-vezey-hemsley/164198618

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Aug-2013 03:38	JINX	Added
16-Oct-2013 03:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
25-Oct-2013 20:08	JINX	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Narrative, ]
02-Nov-2013 10:57	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Narrative, ]
25-Nov-2013 21:10	JINX	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, ]
18-Dec-2013 18:15	Nepa	Updated [Operator, ]
24-Nov-2014 09:13	Gloug	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport, Narrative, ]
24-Nov-2014 09:15	R.Depa	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Narrative, ]
23-Apr-2018 16:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative, ]
06-Oct-2018 15:19	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
24-Jun-2019 19:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
11-Jul-2025 12:11	MMR	Updated [Narrative, ]