Date:	Thursday 4 July 1940
Time:	night
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	144 Sqn RAF
Registration:	P4361
MSN:	PL-Q
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Russee, SW of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Handley Page Hampden Mk.I P4361 (PL-Q) 144 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (Failed to Return) from combat operations over Germany. All four crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1015): "Hampden P4361 crashed at Russee, Germany, 4 July 1940. Sergeant A I J Nicol, Sergeant P F Bailey, Pilot Officer J H Gilling and Flying Officer E B Lancaster: report of deaths"

Airborne from RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire to bomb targets in the area of Kiel Dockyard. Believed shot down by flak/AAA ground fire, and crashed at Russee, a South Western suburb of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. No survivors among the crew of four

Crew:-
Pilot : Flying Officer Eric Bell Lancaster RAF 40121 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 28 November, 1939) [Killed]
2nd Pilot : Pilot Officer Jack Humphrey Gilling RAF 41842 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 28 November, 1939) [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Percy Fallows Bailey RAF 552072 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Andrew Isaac John Nicol RAF 543932 [Killed]

All lie at the Kiel War Cemetery, Germany (54.345657 / 10.124720)

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-P9999 (James J . Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 24)
2. National Airchvies (PRO Kew) File Air 81/1016: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502855
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356683/nicol,-andrew-isaac-john/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356134/bailey,-percy-fallows/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356399/gilling,-jack-humphrey/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2356564/lancaster,-eric-bell/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel
8. 144 Squadron RAF ORB (Operations Record Book) July 1940: PRO Kew File AIR 27/980/15: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8388880
9. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database http://robdavistelford.co.uk/webspace/raf_bc

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Oct-2019 20:19	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Oct-2019 11:07	juza7	Updated [Operator, ]
23-Mar-2025 07:44	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]