ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 21498
Last updated: 26 October 2020
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information.
If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.
| Date: | 11-JUN-1940 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: | Vickers Wellington Mk Ic |
| Owner/operator: | 149 Squadron Royal Air Force (149 Sqn RAF) |
| Registration: | L7800 |
| C/n / msn: | OJ-K |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | North Sea, off Belgian Coast -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk |
| RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk |
Vickers Wellington Mk.1c L7800 (OJ-K) 149 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations on the night of 10-11 June 1940. All six crew missing, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/842): "Wellington L7800 failed to return from air operations, 11 June 1940. Sergeant G B Fleming, Sergeant M Murphy, Sergeant R Donaldson, Pilot Officer J R Swift, Pilot Officer M B Dawson and Flying Officer J S Douglas-Cooper: missing presumed dead"
Airborne from Mildenhall on the evening of June 10 1940. Target: Soissons. Last heard of calling for a fix which was plotted off the Belgian coast. Presumed crashed into the North Sea, off the Belgian coast, with the loss of all six crew.
Crew:
Flying Officer John Stainforth Douglas-Cooper, RAF 37964, age 31, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Pilot Officer Michael Benedict Dawson, RAF 42205, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Sergeant Geoffrey Bernard Fleming, RAF 581173, age 24, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Sergeant Robert Donaldson, RAF 542626, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed.
Sergeant Michael Murphy, RAF 624178, age 23, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
Pilot Officer John Rupert Swift, RAFVR 77213, posted 11/06/1940, as missing, presumed killed
As all six crew were never found, they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/842: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502648
3. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-vickers-416-wellington-ic-north-sea-6-killed
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/149_squadron.html#101106
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232400/douglas-cooper,-john-stainforth/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232007/dawson,-michael-benedict/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1270119/fleming,-geoffrey-bernard/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/232351/donaldson,-robert/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077428/murphy,-michael/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1808308/swift,-john-rupert/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Jun-2008 04:26 | JINX | Added |
| 09-Jan-2012 07:32 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Mar-2013 18:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jun-2013 11:58 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 21-Aug-2013 09:14 | JINX | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source] |
| 27-Apr-2015 18:55 | ABBA | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 20-Sep-2019 16:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description