Air France D-338s shot down 1940

[Brian]

Hi guys

I'm seeking further information about the loss of two Air France D-338s:

F-ARTD shot down by French AA fire and crashed Ouistreham, France (one killed) on 20 June 1940.

F-AQBA shot down by Japanese fighter over Gulf of Tonkin 7 July 1940
(unknown casualties)

Cheers
Brian

[CJE]

Hello Brian,

D.338 F-AQBA, crew: Lacaze, Péchard & Valepyn.
Flight between Hanoi and Fort-Bayard (Zhanjiang) at the request of the Gouverneur Général.
Take-off at 0835 with two French officers and a Major of the IJN as passengers.
Supposed to have been shot down by Japanese fighters.
The wreck was located at 109°30 E and 21° N. Fishermen from Hong Kong retrieved the corpses 6 km off the coast.
On 10th July, the Japanese apologized to the Gouverneur Général for this "mistake", thus confirming that the D.338 was actually shot down by their fighters.
Air France will be given a Nakajima AT-2 Type 97 (Thora) - F-BAGL - in May 1941 as a compensation. However, with no spare parts it will be soon stored in some hangar at Hanoi.

[Brian]

Many thanks Chris

You have written one passenger as 'Major IJN' - what does this mean?

Cheers
Brian

[CJE]

Imperial Japanese Navy.
No further details
He probably was not a Major but a Commander (RN rank), my mistake in translating.

Chris

[JYoung]

Hi Brian and Chris, thank you so much for those information. I didn’t know the F-AQBA incident until I read this thread and searched Japanese Foreign Ministry(hereafter JFM) documents and Imperial Japanese Navy ones.

The F-AQBA flight on 7 July 1940 was arranged to transport liaison officers to French leased territory in Kwangtung by a request of Japanese observation mission in Hanoi. Boarding persons were Commander MOTOKI, Jun-ichi, IJN, lieutenant de vaisseau (if he belonged to Navy: the documents mentioned his nationality but his branch of service) Bourgon(this spelling is translated from Japanese phonetic symbols in the documents. Thus it may have errors), both in charge of liaison, and 3 men-crew.

The JFM document says nothing about other boarding persons. The IJN document says an enseigne de vaisseau de première classe(if he belonged to Navy) French man (no name is given) also boarded the aircraft as a passenger.

The aircraft took off Hanoi on 0830 hr. (the document does not mention its time zone) , and cut off communications from 1000 hr. French Indochina Governor requested a Japanese consul to cooperate a search of F-AQBA.

The JFM document says Japan had proclaimed a prohibition of foreign aircraft’s flying over Weichow Island and 15 nm water of its periphery because IJN had continuously executed operations around there. The island is located in Gulf of Tonkin, nearly on a line between Hanoi and Zhanjiang.

At 1205 hr. members of IJN fighter unit stationed on the Weichow Is. found an unidentified aircraft approaching from south-west-south, thus they wanted to force the aircraft to land. IJN fighter(s) tried to guide but the aircraft didn’t follow and evaded. At first the fighter made warning shots, then fired upon her engine and fuselage. The aircraft emitting a flame crashed into the sea 25 nm east from Weichow Is. At this moment the fighter finally recognized her French nationality. The unit reported the incident to its superior.

At this point Japanese Government realized the IJN fighter shot down the F-AQBA. She paid the Gouverneur Général 30,000 yen each for crew and 100,000 yen for lieutenant de vaisseau Bourgon as condolence on 9 December 1940 and presented a Nakajima twin-engine transport on 12 May 1941.

Commander Motoki was posthumously promoted to Captain and his condolence was 3,113 yen. Sorry for my poor English.
Best regards.
JY

[Brian]

Hi JY

Thank you for adding so much to this incident. Most useful.

Cheers
Brian