eBay: Allied intrest

[Martin Gleeson]

Ed, Andy

#5 and 6 are photos of two interesting Blenheims. I cannot prove it for certain but I believe the location is Crecy airfield and that the Blenheims are in adjoining fields, based on some other photos that I have seen.

#5 is N6146 RT-L, formerly of 114 Squadron and handed over to 18 Squadron on 19 May 1940 - who promptly abandoned it at Crecy. From memory 18 Squadron had a shortage of pilots to evacuate their own Blenheims to England on the 19th and 20th. RT-L is more commonly seen in photos in various states of wreckage in a wood, probably the one in the background, but only one photo clearly showed the serial as N6146. The Form 78 records its last owner as 82 Squadron, but this is an error.

#6 is an 18 Squadron aircraft based on the unit code, and also seems to be at Crecy. I have not seen a serial on any image of it but one could maybe make out 'L....' on one photo. Note the wood in the background. Another old EBay photo seems to show what looks like a Blenheim in the field behind it, possibly N6146 RT-L above in #5. All that said it is known that Blenheim L9191 of 18 Squadron crashed on landing at Crecy early on May 19th. So very likely this photo shows L9191. If only we could see the serial in a clearer image ! Hopefully one will turn up some day.

These two photos do help to identify a little more these two aircraft. Thanks Ed.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.