[Adriano Baumgartner]

Dear Alex, Nick and Bruggy,

Sorry for the long delay in answering. I was travelling and without book references to add further information.

Managed to find my sample of Ross McNeill "RAF Coastal Command Losses, 1939-1941" and got no joy either in finding a match.

I do agree with some of you that probably the French Ace Bernard Dupérier mislead us onto a wrong date...Do not know if he wrote from memory or not...or cross-checking some kind of War Diary.

I tried to digitalize the relevant pages, but got 4 Mb of PDF archives, so it not gonna work...

Please do let me copy as it is (quoting), thus in French language (apologize for that with the Super Moderators), from page.44 up to pg. 46:

"Vendredi, 5 Septembre 1941

Brusquement, avant-hier., la rélève du 242 a été décidée et aujourd'hui...[pg.46] > "Ce matin il y au une grande corrida. Exercice avec les bombardiers, eux aussi nouveaux dans le secteur. Nous décollons a 8 pour escorter 3 Blenheims. Ces derniers font, dès le départ, um série de fausses manoeuvres et s'arrangent pour passer em rase-mottes au dessus d'um convoi anglais dans l'embouchure de la Tamise...[ ]..Immédiatement après, um des Blenheims, volant trop bas touche l'eau de ses hélices, les tord et se voit obligé de poser au milieu de l'estuaire, moteurs stoppés...[ ]...ils constatèrent que le Blenheim reposait sur um haut fond et qu'ils n'avaient de l'eau que jusq'aux genoux...[ ]...Mais tout est bien qui finit bien et aucun entrainement ne pouvait être plus complet et plus realiste."

One can see that it was a Training sortie, not an Operational one, and that at least 8 Hurricanes (do not know if all from Nº 242 Squadron) escorted the 3 Blenheims and that one crew touched the water flying very low and had to ditch. They managed to get into the Dinghy and were probably rescued "nearby the Thames estuary" (thank you for correcting me...I had forgotten the word estuary when I first posted, and had not time to translate it).

The very next entry onto Bernard Dupérier book is on the 19 September 1941...so probably on this gap, an accident ocurred and the crew probably was rescued, since he ends the story with positive backgrounds (it seems so).

I was trying to figure out which was the crew and the serial number of THAT Blenheim....

Sorry for the original transcription and not being able to add the 4 Mb PDF file onto the thread, so one could read it on the original writing.

Adriano B.