Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV N6216 (XD-B) of 139 (Jamaica) Sqaudron, RAF: Written off (destroyed) on combat operations - officially described as "Blenheim N6216 crashed at Reckem, Belgium, 12 May 1940. Sergeant T W Davis, Leading Aircraftman W A McFadden and Acting Squadron Leader W I Scott: report of deaths".
At dawn on 12 May 1940, the British air commander sent off nine A.A.S.F. Blenheims of No. 139 Squadron to attack a column on the road from Maastricht to Tongres. Running into the swarms of fighters previously reported over the area, they lost all but two of their number—a disaster which ended the life of the A.A.S.F. Blenheims as a useful force before it had begun, for the other squadron (No. 114) had been virtually destroyed on its airfield the previous day.
The German fighter pilot Walter Adolph (1913-1941) of 2./JG 1 shot down three Blenheims of 139 Squadron on this day, one of which was possibly Blenheim N6216.
Blenheim N6216 was airborne at 05:00 from Plivot, France, briefed to bomb and strafe troop columns advancing out of Maastricht towards Tongeren. Shot down by Bf 109s near Rekem (Limburg), on the West bank of the Maas, 25 km East of Hasselt, Belgium. All three crew killed.
Rekem Communal Cemetery contains the graves of eight airmen of the Second World War, one of whom is unidentified. It is possible that Sgt Thomas Davis is the unidentified one; the other five graves are those of a crew of a plane of 10 Squadron, which flew in 1941 in Armstrong Whitworth Whitley's (which has a crew of five) and Halifaxes (which had a crew of 4 to 7).
The graves of the crew in the communal cemetery of Rekem (Courtesy: Paul Hermans)
