Mureaux 115, 10/05/1940, crash Herkingen, NL

[B.F.M. Droog]

Who knows more about this plane and crew from the French Air Force:

Mureaux 115, crashed or force-landed at Herkingen, near 'Boerderij Geluk' (Geluk farm), Netherlands

Regards,

Bart

[Peter Cornwell]

Bart,

This is new to me. May we know the source of your information please ?

[B.F.M. Droog]

Bien sûr,

Source is Allert Goossens, webmaster of War over Holland. With him and a few other people we're working on a complete listing of allied losses in the Netherlands during the Battle of France.

That is: for the Air Forces and Armies; Naval History.net is pretty complete for the Naval losses.

Regards,

Bart
PS: here's a page with information on the Mureaux 115, a two seater recce biplane

[Leendert]

Bart,

It seems that this elusive Mureaux was subject of discussion on this forum in 2006 as well: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=3897

No conclusive answers then...

Regards,

Leendert

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello Leendert,

Thanks - the info on that old thread reveals that there was indeed a Mureaux loss (maybe a 117 instead of a 115) and I guess that the crew made it back to their own lines. It's a pity that the picture the discussion participants spoke about two years ago wasn't placed online - maybe the background would reveal more information regarding the crash location.

The supposed place of the crash, herkingen polder, isn't so strange as it may sound: German Falschirmjäger had taken the Moerdijk bridges and were engaged with Dutch forces near Dordrecht and in Rotterdam and French Army forces were on their way towards Moerdijk. A recce mission in this area would be very logical.

I'll try to see if I can find out more via other channels.

Regards,

Bart

[CJE]

No Mureaux was lost in Holland on this very day, only one over Luxemburg.
In fact, none was sent outside the French borders.
It was an antiquated plane that was superseded by more modern type, such as the Potez 63.11, as soon as late 1939.
Maybe a confusion with some Dutch Fokker?

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello CJE,

Maybe if someone would post that photo, we would know more.

According to Armée de l'Air - Order of Battle, 10th May 1940 G.A.O. 501 , with 6 Mureaux 115 (based at Dunkerque-Mardyck) and G.A.O. 552, with 6 Mureaux 117 (based at Saint-Omer-Wizernes) were attached to the 7e Armée. Can't it be that in the chaos of those May days the loss of the plane we're talking about wasn't recorded?

Regards,

Bart