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Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
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600 squadron badge
09.08.1940 No. 600 Squadron Blenheim If L8679 BQ-O F/O. Rougetel

Operation: Night Patrol

Date: 9th August 1940 (Friday)

Unit: No. 600 Squadron (Fighter Command)

Type: Blenheim If

Serial: L8679

Code: BQ-O

Base: RAF Manston, Kent.

Location: North Sea off Ramsgate, Kent

Pilot: F/O. Stanley P. Le Rougetel 70392 RAFVR Survived

Obs: Sgt. Eric Smith 197580 RAFVR Survived

REASON FOR LOSS:

Several different accounts exist on the loss of this aircraft. Some reports state that it was shot down by Oblt. Karl-Heinz Metz from 8./JG 2. Some say that it was hit by Allied flak.

The aircraft we know came down off Westgate at 23:00 hrs. after engine failure with both the crew managing to bale out over the North Sea. 

The lifeboat 'J B Proudfoot' found the pilot about half a mile offshore, exhausted but alive and being kept afloat by his lifejacket. The lifeboat crew provided him with rum and landed him back on shore at 00.45 hrs. Sgt Smith had managed to swim ashore.

Burial details:

None, both survived this incident and also the war. 

Researched for relatives of these crews with thanks for additional information to Ross Mcneill for his extensive knowledge of RNLI and Coastal Command during WW2, Graham Warner - 'The Bristol Blenheim' Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses' Vol. 1, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. R.N.L.I. Records of Service 1939-46.

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Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and Captain François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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