ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 21498
Last updated: 11 March 2021
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| 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] |
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