Date:	Wednesday 12 June 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	44 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P1325
MSN:	KM-B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lestrem, near Le Paradis (Pas de Calais), 8 km N of Béthune -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Handley Page Hampden Mk.I P1325 (KM-B) 44 Sqaudron, RAF: Written off when lost (Failed to Return) from combat operations over Northern France. All four crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/861): "Hampden P1325 crashed near Calais, France, 12 June 1940. Sergeant W Jeffrey, Sergeant J F Sandall, Sergeant C L Sumpster and Temporary Sergeant J Simpson: report of deaths".

Airborne from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire on the night of 11-12 June 1940. Crashed at Lestrem, near Le Paradis (Pas de Calais), 8 km N of Béthune, France. No survivors among the crew of four.

Crew of Hampden P1325:-
Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Cyril Leslie Sumpster, RAF 564422, age 26, killed in action 12/06/1940
Sergeant (Pilot) William Jeffrey, RAF 564866, age 27, killed in action 12/06/1940
Sergeant Jack Ffrancis Sandall, RAF 516159, age 28, killed in action 12/06/1940
Sergeant James Simpson, RAF 526079, age 25, killed in action 12/06/1940,

All four crew fatalities were buried at Le Paradis War Cemetery, Lestrem, Pas de Calais, France. The reported crash location of Lestrem is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France, some 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Béthune and 19 miles (30.6 km) west of Lille, by the banks of the Lawe River, at approximate Coordinates: 50°37′23″N 2°41′09″E
Le Paradis War Cemetery is the cemetery where 95 officers and men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk
Regiment rest, who were murdered by No. 4 Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd S.S. Totenkopf (Deathshead) Regiment, on 27/05/1940.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J. Halley Air Britain, 1978 p 7)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/861: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502507
3. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=236
4. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/44_squadron.html#111206
5. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/handley_hampden.php
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279658/sumpster,-cyril-leslie/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279607/jeffrey,-william/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279646/sandall,-jack-francis/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279647/simpson,-james/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestrem

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Sep-2019 18:11	Dr. John Smith	Added
24-Sep-2019 13:13	stehlik49	Updated [Operator, ]
27-Jun-2022 09:45	Anon.	Updated [Narrative, ]
25-May-2024 10:52	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative, ]