Date:	Saturday 1 June 1940
Time:	08:40
Type:	Westland Lysander Mk II
Owner/operator:	26 Sqn RAF
Registration:	L4761
MSN:	RM-B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Steenkerke, S of Veurne, West Flanders -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Lympne, Lympne, Kent (LYM/EGMK)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Westland Lysander Mk.II L4761 (RM-B) 26 Squadron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat operations on 1 June 1940. Both crew killed. According to the official Air Ministry file into the incident (File AIR 81/717): "Lysander L4761 crashed in Belgium, 1 June 1940. Leading Aircraftman A V Fitzgerald and Pilot Officer R Wilson: report of deaths".

Operation: Tactical Reconnaissance. Took off from RAF Lympne, Kent. Shot down by Lt von Moller of 1./JG 2 and crashed at Steenkerke, south of Furnes (Veurne), at 08.40 hrs.

Crew:
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Robert Wilson, RAFVR 73014, age 24, killed in action 01/06/1940
Leading Aircraftman (Air Gunner) Arthur V. Fitzgerald, RAF 581507, age 23, killed in action 01/06/1940

Both crew fatalities were buried at Steenkerke Churchyard, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. The reported crash location of Steenkerke is a rural village in the Belgian province of West Flanders and a part of the city of Veurne in northwestern Belgium, near the French border, at approximate Coordinates: 51°3′ N, 02°41′ E

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-L9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1978 p 30
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/717: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502494
3. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2253052/wilson,-robert/
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2253051/fitzgerald,-arthur-vincent/
5. Peter D. Cornwell, The Battle of France, Then and Now, 2008
6. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/26_squadron.html#0106
7. https://www.ww2cemeteries.com/steenkerke-churchyard.html
8. https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/2610/Commonwealth-War-Graves-Communal-Cemetery-Steenkerke.htm
9. http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/steenkerkechurch.htm
10. http://www.belgians-remember-them.eu/crash-wvl-veur4.php
11. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steenkerke_(West-Vlaanderen)

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

20 May 1940

L4773

26 Sqn RAF

0

Beach near Calais, Pas de Calais, Nord Department

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Feb-2011 14:25	ThW	Added
24-May-2011 15:08	ThW	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
10-Jul-2015 19:27	DG333	Updated [Time, Registration, Cn, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-Jul-2015 19:29	Lotos	Updated [Aircraft type]
09-Nov-2018 20:59	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
02-Sep-2019 20:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
02-Sep-2019 20:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]
02-Sep-2019 21:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
02-Sep-2019 21:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
03-Sep-2019 19:44	stehlík49	Updated [Operator]
12-Nov-2022 23:50	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]