Date:	Tuesday 11 June 1940
Time:	19:00
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	21 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L8746
MSN:	YH-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Sant-Aubin-sur-Scie, Seine-Maritime, 6 km SSW of Dieppe -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bodney, Norfolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV L8743 (YH-Y) 21 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from a combat operation over Northern France. Of the three crew, two were killed, and one survived to be taken as a PoW. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/848): "Blenheim L8746 crashed at Offranville, France, 11 June 1940. Sergeant G Lewis and Sergeant A G Murray: report of deaths. Pilot Officer D MacDonald: prisoner of war".

Airborne 11:30 from RAF Bodney, near Watton, Norfolk. One of three Blenheims from 15 Squadron (L8746, L8743 and R3674) tasked with bombing targets in the Basse-Seine area in support of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). Shot down over St-Aubin-sur-Scie (Seine- Maritime), 6 km South South West of Dieppe, by, it is believed, Oblt Senoner of 3/JG 20. All of these three Blenheims were lost in this combat operation on this day, with the lost of five crew (plus one taken PoW). Blenheim L8746 lost two crew with one taken as PoW

Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Lieutenant Donald MacDonald RAF 42243 [PoW] (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 12 December, 1939)
Observer : Sergeant Gwyn Lewis RAF 580549 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Alastair Gordon Murray RAFVR 759321 [Killed]

Both crew fatalities were buried at St. Aubin-sur-Scie Communal Cemetery, Seine-Maritime, France. The reported crash location of Saint-Aubin-sur-Scie is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France, by the banks of the river Scie in the Pays de Caux, some 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Dieppe at approximate Coordinates: 49°52′20″N 1°04′16″E

Nine Blenheims of 21 Sqn. took off at 17.00 hrs. to attack reported enemy troop and AFV concentrations in a bend of the river Seine in a wood at the Bois-de-la-Grande-Garenne, near La Mare sous Venables, five miles WSW of Les Andelys (Eure). The survivors landed back beginning at 19.00 hrs

Blenheim L8746. Shot down by Bf 109s during a sortie to attack enemy concentrations in the Bois-de-la-Grande-Garenne near La Mare sous Venables. Shot down over Saint-Aubin-sur-Scie (Seine- Maritime), 6 km South South West of Dieppe, by, it is believed, Oblt Senoner of 3/JG 20. The plane crashed and burned out.
Crew:
Sgt (580549) Gwyn LEWIS (Obs.) RAF killed
Sgt (759321) Alastair Gordon MURRAY (WOp/AG) RAF killed
P/O (42243) Donald MACDONALD (pilot) RAF PoW
SOURCE:
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/848: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502654
3. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=1172
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/21_squadron.html#1106
5. https://www.cwgc.org.
6. Blenheim production list

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Sep-2019 22:35	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-Sep-2019 13:10	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, ]
26-Jun-2022 18:34	Anon.	Updated
18-May-2023 17:57	Rob Davis	Updated
25-Aug-2024 22:09	Nepa	Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Operator, ]
03-Sep-2024 12:03	Nepa	Updated [Cn, Location, Destination airport, Source, Operator, ]