Date:	Saturday 6 July 1940
Time:	morning
Type:	Bristol Blenheim Mk IV
Owner/operator:	18 Sqn RAF
Registration:	R3662
MSN:	WV-T
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Sangatte Beach, Sangatte near Calais, Pas De Calais -   France
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV R3662 (WV-T) 18 Squadron, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Northern France. All three crew survived, but were captured and taken as PoWs. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/1027): "Blenheim R3662 crashed at Sangatte near Calais, France, 6 July 1940. Sergeant R J Fisk, Sergeant J Gilmour and Pilot Officer B A Davidson: prisoners of war"

Airborne from RAF West Raynham, Fakenham, Norfolk, tasked with a "night intruder sortie" to bomb newly-constructed enemy airfields in Northern France. Blenheim R3662 was damaged by flak during this mission, which damaged the controls and rendered the compass u/s, and the pilot decided that it would be wise to force land on what he took to be the beach near the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent, UK. However, he had miscalculated the speed, direction, and position of Blenheim R3662, and instead discovered that he had force landed on the beach near Sangatte, France.

It was reported that he only became aware of this when the troops that came to rescue him and his crew from the Blenheim started speaking German; Pilot Officer Barry Davidson had "parked" one of his majesty's aircraft on enemy-held territory!

Crew of Blenheim R3662:
Pilot Officer Barry Anderson Davidson (Pilot, Canadian) RAF 42699; survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned initially at PoW Camp Stalag Luft I as PoW No. 123. Later in Stalag Luft III, survived the war, escaped from PoW camp in January 1945, and made his way to British Troops, to be repatriated to the UK.
Sgt John Gilmour (Observer) RAF 581093; survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned at PoW Camp Stalag Luft III as PoW No.84
Sgt Reginald J Fisk (Wireless Op./Air Gunner) RAF 625214; survived, captured, taken as PoW. Interned at PoW Camp Stalag 357 as PoW No.139

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J . Halley, Air Britain, 1980 p 23)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 891/1027: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502893
3. http://francecrashes39-45.net/page_fiche_av.php?id=7400
4. Photo of Blenheim R3662 on Sangatte Beach: http://www.crash-aerien.news/forum/ww2-t20465.html?start=1725
5. Footprints on the Sands of Time: RAF Bomber Command Prisoners-of-War in Germany 1939-45 p 42-43 By Oliver Clutton-Brock
6. W.R. Chorley, Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1, 1939/40, Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0 904597 85 7
7. Graham Warner, Bristol Blenheim: A Complete History. 2nd Edition. (Manchester, U.K.: Crecy Publishing, 2005)
8. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost.php?p=105931&postcount=80

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

16 May 1940	L9254	18 Sqn RAF	3	Ardissat, near Crevecoeur-sur-l'Escaut (Nord), 8 km SSE of Cambrai		w/o
8 August 1940	L9472	18 Sqn RAF	3	North Sea, off Zeeland		w/o
29 April 1942	Z7436	18 Sqn RAF	3	Zuidvaartpolder between Goes and Wolphaartsdijk; Zeeland		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Oct-2019 19:18	Dr. John Smith	Added
08-Oct-2019 11:07	juza7	Updated [Operator]