British Second-Line Aircraft lost in France Sept. 1939 - June 1940.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Paul,

That is terrific information for which I am very grateful. Many thanks.

Regards,

Martin.

[Rémi Baudru]

Thanks for sharing all these informations.


In my first post I spoke of the Miles Magister left in june on the airfield of Toulouse Francazal.
Here is a photo of R1910 taken in july or august 1940 by a pilot of the GC II/6.

RB

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Remi,

Thank you very much for posting the photo of R1910. It is wonderful to see it.
I am still trying to determine why it was at Toulouse. I wonder were some RAF aircrew trying to escape via Southern France ? This seems unlikely, but one never knows. Perhaps this Magister had been stationed at Perpignan in connection with the RAF detachment there (No. 1 Armanent Training Station) ? Maybe it had engine trouble ?

Merci beaucoup,

Martin.

[Martin Gleeson]

Continuing the research into this subject I have found one more 'new' loss and two strong possibilities. Any more help very welcome.
.
R3341 4 FPP Hit by Battle L5452 of 226 Sqn while parked at Pouan LG 19-5-1940, DBR.
.
A further DH 89 possibility could be X8507, also 24 Sqn. ex G-AEXO. The most complete history for
this aircraft can be found on the Air-Britain website (DH 89 page). It merely records
"To 24 Sqn, Hendon 27.3.40. SOC 13.6.41". The large gap may indicate a very late 'Struck Off Charge' date.
.
Another DeHavilland possibility is a DH 60G Moth used by 770 and 767 Sqns, Fleet Air Arm. This was W9367, ex G-ABBD. These units had detachments at Hyeres in Southern France, near Toulon from late 1939 to May (770) and June 1940 (767). It seems to have been assigned first to 770 Sqn until it was disbanded at Hyeres on 1-5-1940, then passing on to 767 Sqn. It almost certainly served as a unit 'hack' or liason aircraft. When 767 Sqn flew out their Swordfish aircraft to Malta and Gibraltar soon after 19-6-40 they may have left this Moth behind as it probably did not have the range to fly out. It was "last reported 5.40".
Do any of our French experts know if the Armee de l'Air or the Aeronavale in southern France used this Moth after the FAA departed in June 1940 ?
.
Regards,
.
Martin.

[GOFRIDUS]

Hi
Can you tell me precisions about the landing of G-AEAM W6424 DH89 near St PHilbert? I live near Nantes and I 'm knowing only a St Philbert town, near Nantes : St Philbert de Grand Lieu. Chateau Bougon airfield is in this area (10 km). Clisson is more at the est the east of Nantes (30 km).

Other informations from Nantes: several Bristol Bombay were abandonned at Chateau-Bougon in June 1940 (two? I see two photos of 2 différent Bombay taken at Nantes by German troops. Can you confirm?
Thanks for all.
Aain

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Alain,

Thanks for your reply. Firstly I doubt if there were any Bristol Bombays abandoned at Chateau Bougon. I expect these aircraft were Bristol Blenheims, and certainly more than two.

DH 89 W6424 'G-AEAM'.
There is also a St. Philbert-de-Bouaine, approximately 11 km south east of St. Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu. The former is approximately 21 km. from Clisson, while the latter is 27 km. away. I do not know which St. Philbert was the scene of the forced landing.
To update the information I gave in my original post. W6424 force-landed on 23-2-1940 when it ran out of fuel en route to Chateau Bougon. The Rapide was sent to 21 Aircraft Depot at nearby Bouguenais on 27-2-40. It was possibly repaired because it was later abandoned at Amiens on 16-5-40. Much of the above information on W6424 came from Paul McMillan who kindly posted on this thread and the Air-Britain website.

Hope this helps,

Martin.

[GOFRIDUS]

Thank you Martin for your precisions. Yes,it's possible it's Saint Philbert de Bouaine but note the diaries of N21AD indicated "23Feb DH89 GAEAM of N°24 squadron (pilot F/O DL Mc Monnies) crashed at St Philbert (near Lac grand Lieu) when en route for Chateau Bougon"
" 24 Feb DH89 salved by N°21 Aircraft Depot"


About The Bombay at Nantes, I saw a photo on Ebay. I'm sure that it taken by German troop at Nantes Chateau-Bougon. Note also that a Bombay with Demozay took of from Nantes before the arrival of German troops.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Alain,

I believe you are correct about St. Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu being the landing site of W6424, as I have a copy of the 21 AD ORB also.

The Bombay. A year or two ago there were several photos on E-Bay of a Handley-Page Harrow abandoned in a damaged state on a French airfield (K6996, lost 20-6-1940). The Harrow was a bomber/transport with a fixed undercarriage which was very similar to the Bristol Bombay. I wonder was this the aircraft you saw ? The date of its loss must mean it - the Harrow - was abandoned on another airfield and not the Nantes area ?

Regards,

Martin.

[Faenor]

Hi all,

on e-bay is this photo:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-englisch...QAAOSwI2xX8Uq6

Which from Armstrong Whitworth AW 27 Ensign is it?

Thanks Faenor

[Peter Cornwell]

23 May 1940 24 (COMMUNICATIONS) SQUADRON, HENDON Armstrong-Whitworth AW27 Ensign. Set on fire in strafing attack by Bf109s while off-loading supplies at Merville 9.00 a.m. Captain J. M. H. Hoare and rest of crew all believed unhurt. Aircraft G-ADSZ ‘Elysian’ 100% write-off.
A 40-seat BOAC civil airliner impressed into RAF service. Captain Hoare boarded DC-3 OO-AUI for the return flight.