Date:	Wednesday 3 July 1940
Time:	afternoon
Type:	Blackburn Skua II
Owner/operator:	803 Sqn FAA RN
Registration:	L2915
MSN:	-
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Mediterranean Sea off Oran City, -   Algeria
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	HMS Ark Royal
Destination airport:	-

Narrative:
803 Sqn. Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy, Blackburn Skua L2915 "A7-C", operating from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, crashed into the sea when in combat with Armée de l'Air de Vichy, GC II/5 La Fayette, (GC II/5), Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters. The aircraft was covering the Royal Navy bombardment of the Vichy France Naval Fleet, anchored in Mers-el-Kebir Harbour, just to the west of the French Algerian port of Oran on the Mediterranean Sea.
The two aircrew, Pilot, Petty Officer, Thomas Frank Riddler and Air Gunner, Naval Airman, Horace Turner Chatterley were killed in the crash.

Royal Navy Casualties, killed and died, July 1940 (naval-history.net)
SKUA!: The Royal Navy's Dive-Bomber - Peter C. Smith - Google Books
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/RoyalNavyFleetAirArmDatabase/?q=Air+Gunner&o=Aircraft&d=asc
Blackburn Skua (2) (valka.cz)
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945: Volume Three: Tunisia and ... - Christopher Shores, Giovanni Massimello, Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk, Winfried Bock - Google Books PAGE12
P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2 - Lionel Persyn, Kari Stenman, Andrew Thomas - Google Books
HMS Ark Royal, British aircraft carrier, WW2 (naval-history.net)
British Modern Military History Society • Mers el Kebir: Sinking the French Fleet (bmmhs.org)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Dec-2020 19:11	Peter Clarke	Added