[markjsheppard]

Interesting photo

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110379834471

Merville. France

Part 2 is relevant though ties in with the DC3 concerning the pilot.

Type: DC3
Serial number: ?, OO-AUI
Operation: ?
Lost: 23/05/1940
Sergeant (Pilot) Raymond Chartier (Belgium), BAF (VR), servicenr 258/2226, initially buried at Arcques, exhumed and reinterred 5-9-1950 at Ixelles, Belgium.
Plt Off Benson Freeman - PoW
Captain John M.H. Hoare, British Overseas Airways Corporation, age unknown, 23/05/1940, Arques Churchyard, France
Over Calais it was hit by anti-aircraft and part of the left wing was torn off. The pilot (Raymond Chartier) made a forced landing near Arques. The navigator was killed and two of the passengers wounded, while Chartier was shot by German troops as he tried to reach French lines. The remaining passengers were taken prisoner including Plt Off Benson Freeman of 24 Squadron. The engineer, Piet Vrebos, survived the crash of OO-AUI. The German troops took him POW, but released him and sent him at home because he was a civilian.

Captain Hoare was the skipper of Armstrong Whitworth Ensign G-ADSZ "Elysean". This machine was straffed on the ground at Merville by Bf-109s earlier that day. So Hoare became a passenger to come back to U.K.

Type: Armstrong Whitworth Ensign
Serial number: ?, G-ADSZ (Boac)
Operation: strafed on ground
Lost: 23/05/1940

regards

MS