Date:	Sunday 27 October 1940
Time:	23:30 approx
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	49 Sqn RAF
Registration:	X3027
MSN:	EA-A
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea within a mile of the Skegness coast; Lincolnshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Operation - Hamburg, Germany.

Homeward-bound, the aircraft was intercepted by night fighter pilot Leutnant Heinz Völker of the 2./NJG 2, who was flying from Gilze-Rijen airfield in the Netherlands. The pilot managed courageously to ditch his doomed Hampden in the sea, within a mile of the Skegness coast.
Despite the proximity of the ditching to the foreshore (it is said that the men's call for help could be heard from Skegness seafront) the rescue services were unable to reach the crew in time and tragically all perished; the body of P/O Ballas-Anderson was never recovered:

Crew:-
Pilot : Flying Officer John Raymond BUFTON RAFVR 74328 [Killed] (NCO:741610 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 03 October, 1939) - Llandrindod Wells Cemetery, United Kingdom
Observer : Pilot Officer Konstantine BALLAS-ANDERSEN RAF 42688 [missing believe killed] (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 03 October, 1939) - Runnymede Memorial panel 7
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Frederick James William BICHARD RAF 650625 [Killed] - Oulton (St. John) Churchyard, United Kingdom
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Robert Forrest ROBERTSON RAFVR 751021 [Killed] - Cambusnethan Cemetery, United Kingdom

Date of death noted by CWGC is 28-10-1940.

Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=X3027
http://www.49squadron.co.uk/personnel_index/detail/Bufton_J
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Bomber Command Losses (1939-1940) WR Chorley, page 123
CWGC
AIR81/3979

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Sep-2020 10:04	TigerTimon	Added
27-Oct-2023 06:37	Rob Davis	Updated
20-Aug-2025 15:50	MMR	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]