| More information : [Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV standard light bomber; one of a batch of 250 delivered between March and June 1940 to Contract No.1485/39] Shot down by Bf 109s over Goodwin Sands, 1.6.40. (1)
Builder: Rootes (1)
Delivered: 1940 (1)
Squadron: 254 (1)
Crew: 3 (2)
Fatalities: 3 (2)
Date and time of loss: 01-JUN-1940, 07:55 (2)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Departure airport: RAF Detling, Maidstone, Kent (2)
Destination airport: RAF Detling, Maidstone, Kent (2)
Final flight:
On Saturday 1st June 1940 at 04:50 hours, the Blenheim MK IV R3630 took off from RAF Detling with three other Blenheim aircraft to make a three-hour shipping cover patrol of the Dunkirk evacuation shipping route (Operation "Dynamo"). The patrol, made up of Squadrons No. 254 and 248, was commanded by Flying Officer J.W. Baird in Blenheim L9481.
Shortly after take-off, No. 248 Squadron returned to base due to aircraft complications. No. 254 Squadron continued with their patrol and carried out several circuits between circa 05:00 and 07:45 hours. During two of these circuits, they engaged in unresolved encounters with first a Junkers 87 aircraft and later with a Heinkel 111.
At 07:55, a few minutes after starting their last circuit before returning to Detling, at 8,000 feet, approaching Dunkirk, two miles out to sea flying parallel to the shore, they were attacked by eleven Bf 109 aircraft, diving on them from the South in line astern. The Blenheim went down with all three crew lost.
Aircraft crew: 254 Squadron Royal Air Force (254 Sqn RAF)
- Sergeant Richard Arthur Bate, RAF 564536
- Sergeant James Clements Love, RAFVR 745109
- Leading Aircraftman William Thomas Harrison, RAF 629949
Posted as missing in action (presumed killed in action), no trace of the aircraft or crew has ever been found. Their names are commemorated on the Commonwealth Air Force Memorial. (2)
Associated monument: The Commonwealth Air Force Memorial (also known as the Runnymede Memorial, or the Air Forces Memorial) is inscribed with the names of 20,456 men and women of the Allied Air Forces who lost their lives during the Second World War and have no known grave. It is Grade II* listed: List Entry Number 1376599. (3)
Crash site: A slightly different grid reference is quoted on the 'Exploring Kent's Past' website: TR45NE612. (4)
Aircraft description: Blenheim Mk IV model fitted with protective armour and extended nose, powered by two 905 hp (675 kW) Bristol Mercury XV radial piston engines, armed with a 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun in the port wing, plus two 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine-guns in a powered operated dorsal turret, and two remotely controlled rearward-firing 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns mounted beneath the nose, maximum bombload 1,000 lb (450 kg) internally and 320 lb (150 kg) externally. 3,307 built. (5)
Construction description: Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft. 'The Blenheim was one of the first British aircraft with an all-metal stressed-skin construction, retractable landing gear, flaps, a powered gun turret and variable-pitch propellers.' (5)
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