Date & Time:
Sep 18, 1940 at 0030 LT
Type of aircraft:
Bristol 152 Beaufort
Operator:
Registration:
L4508
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
City
Schedule:
Thorney Island - Thorney Island
MSN:
8369
YOM:
1940
Country:
France
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
4
Crew fatalities:
4
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
7
Total fatalities:
11
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Thorney Island at 2300LT on September 17 on an operation to Cherbourg. Approaching the target at low altitude, the crew dropped its torpedo then initiated a turn to the east to the Val de Saire when the airplane was shot down by the German Flak. Out of control, the airplane collided with an electric pole at Hôtel Giffard Street then crashed onto a house located in Bourbourg, in the suburb of Cherbourg. There was no explosion nor fire. All four crew members as well as seven people on the ground were killed.
Crew:
P/O Thomas Atherton, pilot,
P/O Ruthven Arnold Macfarlane, pilot,
Sgt John Leslie Feather, wireless operator,
Sgt Cyril James Harvey, wireless operator.
Those killed on the ground were:
Albertine Lecouey,
Marie Burnel and five members of families Auvray and Burnel.
Crew:
P/O Thomas Atherton, pilot,
P/O Ruthven Arnold Macfarlane, pilot,
Sgt John Leslie Feather, wireless operator,
Sgt Cyril James Harvey, wireless operator.
Those killed on the ground were:
Albertine Lecouey,
Marie Burnel and five members of families Auvray and Burnel.
Probable cause:
Shot down by the German Flak.
