Base; Thorney Island.
Take off time: 08:42 hours
Op; Recon, between Le Havre and Cherbourg.
Recon mission of the French coast between Le Havre and Cherbourg. Shot down into the sea by a Bf109 by Leutnant Hans-Folkert Rosenboom of III/JG 27 off the Cherbourg coast at 11:30 hours. P/O AK Jackson and Sgt R.V Kingshott were posted as MIA. Sgt JA Hunters body was recovered from the sea and is buried at Cayeux-sur-Mer.
Search party sent out: By the afternoon as the ETA had expired it was thought the Blenheim may have come down into the sea so 3 Blenheim fighters of 236 Sqn (59 Sqn's sister squadron at Thorney Island) were sent out to locate the missing bomber. They headed for the area between Selsiy Bill, Dungeness and Le Havre and at 1430 they sighted 3 German bombers (Ju87's or 88's) and they attacked, The rear gunner of one of the bombers was silenced and black smoked poured from another as they dived low and headed back to France. The missing 59 Sqn crew were not found.
 | Crew awarded the Battle of Britain Clasp - Although entitlement was revoked by the Air Ministry in 1960 (read more) |
All lost:
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During WWII, the RAF used three-letter codes to identify their aircraft from a distance. Two large letters were painted before the roundel, which signified the squadron to which the aircraft belonged, and another letter was painted after the roundel which indicated the individual aircraft. Aditionally, there was the individual serial number for each aircraft, which was painted in a much smaller size, usually somewhere at the rear of the aircraft: (more)
Codes used by RAF 59 Squadron:
PJ Sep 1938 - Sep 1939
TR Sep 1939 - Oct 1942
1 Aug 1943 - Jul 1944
WE Jul 1944 - Oct 1945
BY Oct 1945 - Jun 1946, Dec 1947 - Oct 1950