Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV L8849, LS-S, 15 Squadron, RAF. Operation: Albert Kanaal Bridges at Maastricht. Lost on combat operations 12/05/1940 (2 of the 3 crew KIA). According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/288): "Blenheim L8849 crashed in Belgium, near Maastricht, 12 May 1940. Temporary Warrant Officer W E M Davies: prisoner of war. Sergeant W O Shortland and Flying Officer P N Douglass: report of deaths".
L8849 was one of seven No.15 Squadron Blenheims lost on this operation. Airborne from RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, briefed to destroy the strategic bridges on the Albert Kanaal at Maastricht, Netherlands. The exact location where L8849 crashed is not known, but appears to have been over the border in Belgium, as the two crew fatalities were buried at Heverlee War Cemetery, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium. (One source states "Shot down at 09.25 over Beverst"). Sergeant W.E.M. Davies was taken prisoner of war. He was interned in PoW Camps Stalag Luft 1 and Stalg Luft 3 where he served as an interpreter.
Beverst, where Blenheim L8849 is presumed to have come down is a place and former Belgian municipality in the south (Haspengouw) of the province of Limburg (district of Tongeren). The borough consists of the hamlet of Schoonbeek to the north of the Demer and the towns of Beverst, Laar and Holt to the south of the Demer, at approximate Coordinates:50°54 ′ N, 5°28′ E.
