ID Grave of British airman in France 12.08.40?

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Does anyone have a good candidate for the subject of this photo?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...OIBUAA:US:1123

Regards,

[Andy Saunders]

Larry

The inscription indicates this is a crew, rather than an "airman" as you suggest.

Thus we are looking for a crew, and the propellor seems to be of the De-Havilland type thus pointing, not surprisingly, to a Hampden.

It isn't much to go on, but R3768 of 15 Sqn is a possibility I suppose - but that is supposition! However, the large lumps of rock look like granite and this isn't the sort of rock ones expects to find along the French Channel coast as far as I am aware. It almost looks Scandinavian to me.

[Thierry K]

The rock "looking like granite" is common in Bretagne, maybe will help ?
Regards Thierry

[Leendert]

Story of Blenheim R3768 here: http://www.raf38group.org/fermanville

Perhaps a forum member from that area (Normandy, near Cherbourg) can say if the surroundings look familiar?

Regards,

Leendert

[gilles collaveri]

just an idea:

on the back of the picture, don't we have; handwriten:
"Am Kanal", which would mean "at the canal" (german speaking readers, correct me if I am wrong), thus placing the scene in a Northern area: Belgium, Netherlands, North of France...

bregards

GC

[Hans Nauta]

Dear all,

I don't think this is The Netherlands or the upper half of the Belgium coast as these are sandy beaches with dunes and lack the type of boulders on the picture.

Regards,
Hans

[Henk Welting]

When a German mentions "Am (Ärmel-) Kanal" he indicates to say the "British Channel", what's north of France.

Henk.

[Andy Saunders]

Just a thought....

Is it a case of possibly "lost in translation".

In French is not The Channel La Manche?

Just an idea, but could it be the French region; Manche? As a result, the German who wrote this just mis-translated - ie Manche = Kanal?

Well....I understand what I mean, even if I have confused everyone else!

[micki]

Hi Larry and all,
Can confirm that this picture is the initial grave of the crew of Blenheim R3768. The plane crashed on the rocky shores of Fermanville, a place called "La Lande du Brûley" (this is located on the North coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, which is mainly rocky). Their remains were moved several months later in Fermanville churchyard. A friend found a similar picture of this grave some 15 years ago in a Cherbourg photographer office. The rock that we can see on the picture is of course still existing and a sharpened eye can find it among the wild vegetation, in walking on the coastal path of this area.
Hope this helps.
Mickaël from the Cherbourg peninsula

[Larry Hickey]

Mickaël,

Fantastic resolution of this post! Great cooperation with members of this board. Just what we needed to know. Leendert was also right. I have this in the Weiss manuscript translation on 12.8.40 as:

"15 Sqn Blenheim IV R3768 brought down by Flakabteilung 364 and crashed by Fermanville, approx. 14 km ENE of Cherbourg.
P/O Francis George Hurleston Dench (pilot) KIA
Sgt. Angus Nigel Gray (navigator) KIA
Sgt. Edgar Enoch Scrase (WGO/air gunner) KIA

From Leendert's website reference: www.raf38group.org/fermanville, there is further detail, although dating this as 13 August 1940. Peter Cornwell is working on the revised EOE British DB for this period right now, and I'm sure he will sort this one out further.

Now, does anyone have any photos of the actual main aircraft crash site and wreckage, which should be near the grave, or photos of the aircraft and/or crew prior to the crash? That would be the icing on the cake.

It is results like this that really makes me appreciate this board. Thanx to all who contributed.

Regards,