Date:	Saturday 20 April 1940
Time:	23:45
Type:	Fairey Battle Mk I
Owner/operator:	218 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P2201
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg. -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Auberive-sur-Suippes, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Fairey Battle P2201 (HA-T) of 218 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when crashed following an explosion during a reconnaissance flight, Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, 20 April 1940. Took off from Auberive-sur-Suippes at 20:55 for a "Nickelling" (Leaflet dropping) sortie to Worms and Mainz. Shot down at 23.45 by Obfw. Schmale of 12.(N)/JG2 near Kreilsheim. The Luftwaffe claimed it to be the first successful shoot down of an RAF aircraft in air to air combat at night. Of the three crew, two were killed, and one survived to be captured and taken as POW

Crew of Battle P2201:
Sergeant Edward Davison (Observer, Service Number 563790, aged 26) - killed in action, buried Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany, reference 7. D. 25.
Aircraftman 1st Class A Bailey (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, Service Number 552069) - killed in action, buried Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany, reference 7. D. 24.
Pilot Officer Howard Douglas "Hank" Wardle (pilot) survived captured, taken as prisoner of war (POW)

P/O "Hank" Wardle along with a group of other escaped POWs were taken by the French underground across Vichy France to the Spanish border, crossing the Pyrenees Mountain range. Issued with a fake passport in the name of Raoul, six-foot tall Hank was now a hairdresser. Once across the border Hank was immediately arrested and placed in jail! Eventually he was released and taken to Gibraltar and flown back to the UK arriving February 5th 1944. What is remarkable is that Hank crossed the mountains with a injured leg, the result of a severe beating he had received when captured after his first escape attempt in 1940.

While in Oflag IVc he often walked with the aid of a walking stick, he was also partially deaf in one ear, the result of being hit by a rifle butt. In 1944 he married June Porter and began ferrying bombers to the Middle and Far East. Hank was awarded the Military Cross – awarded as per London Gazette dated 16 May 1944. Towards the end of the war, Hank still ferrying bombers switched to flying bombers from Canada across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. With the war ended, Hank remained in the air force, he was involved in a mid-air collision, which resulted in a crash in 1948, soon after he resigned his commission. Hank died 1995 in Ottawa, Canada

Note that Battle P2201 is variously described in published sources as have crashed at "Kreilsheim" or, in the official Air Ministry file into the incident (Air Ministry file AIR 81/157), at "Wallhausen" (which is 275 km away). The aircraft actually came down at Crailsheim, a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, 32 kilometres (20 miles) east of Schwäbisch Hall and 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall district, at approximate co ordinates: 49°08′05″N 10°04′14″E.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain, 1979 p 13)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/157: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14141936
3. Aircraft Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM78) for P2201: https://218squadron.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p2201.jpg
4. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/20.htm
5. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=19989
6. https://erenow.net/ww/st-vith-victory-218-squadron-campaign-against-nazi-germany/12.php
7. https://218squadron.wordpress.com/escape-from-colditz/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2080206/davison,-edward/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2079672/bailey,-albert/
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/00225.php
11. http://www.anciens-aerodromes.com/?p=33864

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
10-Jun-2019 17:05	Dr. John Smith	Added
10-Jun-2019 17:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
11-Jun-2019 05:53	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]