Date:	Wednesday 27 December 1939
Time:
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	107 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L8779
MSN:	OM-D
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, 10 km north of Wangerooge, Frisian Islands, Lower Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Blenheim L8779/D: Took off for a PR mission. 27/12/1939.
Lost at Sea, 10 km north of Wangerooge, Frisian Islands, Lower Saxony, at approximate coordinates: 53°47′27″N 7°53′57″E, with all three crew posted as "missing presumed dead". One source (see link #7) credits Karl August Schumacher in a Bf 109E-3 of the Luftwaffe's Stab./JG 1 with shooting down Blenheim L8779 (his second victory in air to air combat)

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer Keith Laxton RAF 70389 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 31 October, 1939) [Killed]
Observer : Sergeant William Anderson RAF 580390 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Leading Aircraftman Truscott Victor Lewis RAF 531954 [Killed]

No trace of the aircraft or of the crew were ever found; they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 59)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/79: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14141880
3. https://www.aviationartprints.com/airframe_data.php?FrameID=23035
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803186/laxton,-keith/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803418/lewis,-truscott-victor/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1082801/anderson,-william/
7. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase/?s=1600&q=Karl%2C
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangerooge
9. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jun-2019 17:41	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Jun-2019 10:36	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, ]
19-Jun-2024 19:44	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
16-Aug-2024 09:23	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]