Date:	Saturday 15 June 1940
Time:	09:00 LT
Type:	Lockheed Hudson Mk I
Owner/operator:	224 Sqn RAF
Registration:	N7279
MSN:	QX-U
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea, off Sola, Rogaland -   Norway
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife
Destination airport:	RAF Leuchars, Fife

Narrative:
Lockheed Hudson Mk.I N7279 (QX-U) 224 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (Failed To Return) from combat operations over Norway. All four crew missing, presumed killed. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/910): "Hudson N7279 lost in air operations over the North Sea, 15 June 1940. Aircraftman 1st Class T Morton, Aircraftman 1st Class E Pearce, Pilot Officer F S Crawford and Pilot Officer N Ewart: missing presumed dead"

Took off at 06.25 hrs from RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland. Tasked to bomb an ammunition dump at Soma, Norway, but was shot down at 09.00 hrs by a Bf 109 of either Ofw A. Hackl or Fw Petermann of 5./JG77 off Sola, Rogaland, Norway. No survivors amongst the crew of four. N7279 was one of three 224 Squadron Hudsons lost in this combat operation (N7217/QX-W, N7270/QX-V and L7279/QX-U)

Crew of Hudson N7279:
Pilot Officer Neil Ewart, RAF 41838 (New Zealander), age 23, posted 15/06/1940, as missing, believed killed
Pilot Officer Francis Sirius Crawford, RAF 41558 (New Zealander), age 20, posted 15/06/1940, as missing, believed killed
Sergeant Edgar Pearce, RAF 624941, age 25, posted 15/06/1940, as missing, believed killed
Aircraftman 1st Class Thomas Morton, RAF 615295, posted 15/06/1940, as missing, believed killed

As no trace of Hudson N7279 or its crew was ever found, all four crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft N1000-N9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1977)
2. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 81/910: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14502389
3. Ross McNeill, 'Coastal Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1 (1939-1941)'
4. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269761/ewart,-niel/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1085202/crawford,-francis-sirius/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1804063/pearce,-edgar/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1077288/morton,-thomas/
8. http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/224_squadron.html#1506
9. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?1299-Niel-or-Neil-Ewart-RAF-41838-(NZ)-224-Sqdn-15-06-1940

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Sep-2019 23:33	Dr. John Smith	Added
29-Sep-2019 08:29	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]