Date:	Wednesday 15 May 1940
Time:	09:00 LT
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	53 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L9399
MSN:	PZ-J
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ramegnies-Chin, Tournai, Hainaut -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Poix-de-Picardie, France
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV L9399 (PZ-J) 53 Squadron, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 15 May 1940. All three crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident: "Blenheim L9399 crashed at Froyennes, Belgium, 15 May 1940. Leading Aircraftman J Bromley, Sergeant W J Cronin and Pilot Officer P K Bone: report of deaths".

Took off from Poix-de-Picardie, France. In what would now be termed a "friendly fire incident" Blenheim L9399 was shot down in error by Flt Lt Owen of 504 Squadron, RAF, and crashed near Couture de Froyennes, Tournai (Doornik), Walloon, Belgium.

At 09.00 hrs planes from 53 Squadron flew via Tournai to Dinant. British soldiers being transported on the Tournai-Lille railroad saw a Hurricane attacking a twin engined aircraft and shooting it down. Wildly cheering, they watched this aircraft exploding in a ball of fire at Ramegnies-Chin near Couture de Froyennes.

In the wreckage the bodies of Pilot Officer Bone and Sgt Cronin are found. A third charred body is pulled by parachute ropes out of the molten metal and buried in Ramegnies-Chin Churchyard. As combat broke out there was no time to identify him.

Crew of Blenheim L9399:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Peter Knowles Bone, RAF 40795, aged 27, killed in action 15/05/1940, buried at Templeuve Communal Cemetery, Tournai, Hainaut, Belgium
Sergeant (Observer) William Joseph Cronin, RAF, 365686, DFM, aged 31, killed in action 15/05/1940, buried at Templeuve Communal Cemetery, Tournai, Belgium
Leading Aircraftman (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) Jack Bromley, RAF 550718, age 20, killed in action 15/05/1940, posted as missing (buried as an 'unknown airman' in Ramegnies-Chin Churchyard, Hainaut, Belgium)

As the body of LAC Jack Bromley was never formally identified (despite the above) he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Possibly the body was too charred to be identified?

The crash location of Ramegnies-Chin is a section of the Belgian city of Tournai , located in the Walloon Region in the province of Hainaut (on the France-Belgium border) at approximate co ordinates 50°39' North, 3°20' East.

1. Royal Air Force Aircrft L1000-L9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain 1978 p 62)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/384: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502271
3. Cynrick De Decker and Jean Louis Roba in 'Mei 1940 boven België'.
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2254636/bone,-peter-knowles/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2254640/cronin,-william-joseph/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1530494/bromley,-jack/
7. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/53_squadron.html#1505
8. http://www.belgians-remember-them.eu/crash-hai-temp.php
9. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/lac-jack-bromley-runnymede-memorial.69105/
10. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=12527
11. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramegnies-Chin
12. http://www.oldhaltonians.co.uk/pages/rememb/ROH/C.htm
13. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/raf-losses-may-1940-an-update.16940/page-8#post-195910

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jul-2019 23:31	Dr. John Smith	Added
17-Jul-2019 13:37	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]
08-Nov-2022 22:50	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]