Date:	Saturday 8 June 1940
Time:	18:15
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	110 (Hyderabad) Sqn RAF
Registration:	L8749
MSN:	VE-D
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Deauville, Calvados, Normandy -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wattisham, Suffolk
Destination airport:	RAF Wattisham

Narrative:
Blenheim L8749: Written off (destroyed) when lost from combat operations over Northern France. 08/06/1940
All three crew survived, and evaded capture. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/851): "Blenheim L8749, force landed near Deauville, France, 8 June 1940.
Sergeant F J A Gower, Sergeant V J Swallow and Sergeant R Sims: missing, later reported as safe".

Blenheim L8749 :Take-off at 15;20 hrs for bombing attack enemy troop concentrations in the Rouen /Quevauvillers /Fresnoy-au-val area.
Blenheim L8749 forced-landed near Deauville (Eure) damaged by ground fire during an attack on armour and enemy troops between Amiens and Poix-de-Picardie (Somme) at 18.15 hrs. Aircraft a write-off. All three crew survived uninjured, and evaded capture, to return to their unit to RAF Wattisham on June 11th .
Crew:
Sgt (742225) Reginald SIMS (Pilot) RAFVR Ok
Sgt. (581383) Frederick John Austin GOWER (Obs.) RAF Ok
Sgt. (540806) Vincent Joseph SWALLOW (WOp/AG) RAF Ok

The reported crash location of Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Normandy region in northwestern France, at approximate Coordinates: 49°22′N 0°05′E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/851: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502657
3. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7776
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/110_squadron.html#1106
5. https://Bristol Blenheim production list
6. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/05149.php

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Sep-2019 22:07	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-Sep-2019 13:23	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, ]
04-Nov-2019 10:48	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
01-Sep-2024 12:44	Nepa	Updated [Time, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Operator, ]