ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 226657
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| Date: | Sunday 12 May 1940 |
| Time: | 09:25 |
| Type: |  Bristol Blenheim Mk IV |
| Owner/operator: | 15 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | L8849 |
| MSN: | LS-S |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Beverst, Tongeren, Limburg -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire |
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV L8849, LS-S, 15 Sqaudron, RAF. Operation: Albert Kanaal Bridges at Maastricht. Lost on combat operations 12/05/1940 (2 of the 3 crew KIA). According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/288): "Blenheim L8849 crashed in Belgium, near Maastricht, 12 May 1940. Temporary Warrant Officer W E M Davies: prisoner of war. Sergeant W O Shortland and Flying Officer P N Douglass: report of deaths".
Crew of Blenheim L8847:
Flying Officer (Pilot) Peter Norman Douglass, RAF 39933, killed in action 12/05/1940
Sergeant (Observer) Wilfred Owen Shortland, RAF 562875, age 28, killed in action 12/05/1940
Sergeant W.E.M. Davies (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) - survived, captured, taken as PoW
L8849 was one of seven No.15 Squadron Blenheims lost on this operation. Airborne from RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, briefed to destroy the strategic bridges on the Albert Kanaal at Maastricht, Netherlands. The exact location where L8849 crashed is not known, but appears to have been over the border in Belgium, as the two crew fatalities were buried at Heverlee War Cemetery, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium. (One source states "Shot down at 09.25 over Beverst"). Sergeant W.E.M. Davies was taken prisoner of war. He was interned in PoW Camps Stalag Luft 1 and Stalg Luft 3 where he served as an interpreter.
Beverst, where Blenheim L8849 is presumed to have come down is a place and former Belgian municipality in the south (Haspengouw) of the province of Limburg (district of Tongeren). The borough consists of the hamlet of Schoonbeek to the north of the Demer and the towns of Beverst, Laar and Holt to the south of the Demer, at approximate Coordinates:50°54 ′ N, 5°28′ E.
Sources:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/289: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14142138
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2777416/douglass,-peter-norman/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2777969/shortland,-wilfred-owen/
5. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/15_squadron.html
6. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/18.htm
7. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverst
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Jun-2019 21:21 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 30-Jun-2019 10:25 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
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