Bristol Beaufighter (T4638) was dispatched from RAF Middle Wallop and the Wellington was shot down near Mere in Wiltshire, UK. All the crew died. They were pilot Sgt. Oldřich Helma; second pilot Sgt. Antonín Plocek, navigator P/O Richard Hapala, wireless operator Sgt. Adolf Dolejš and air-gunners Sgt Jaroslav Petrucha and Sgt Jaroslav Lančík) Sgt. Petrucha's remains were returned to Czechoslovakia. The others are buried here in Devizes Road Cemetery, Salisbury, UK. 3 July Royal Air Force Boeing Fortress I, AN528, c/n 2065, of No. 90 Squadron RAF (90 Sqn) at RAF Polebrook, is destroyed when a troublesome engine catches fire during a late-night ground run. 3 JulyLuftwaffe Experten Major Wilhelm Balthasar, (47 credited kills), Geschaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 2, and winner of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, is killed in action on this date when his Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 suffers failure of a wing and he crashes into Ferme Goset, Wittes, France, near Saint-Omer. The airframe is recovered in March 2004. 9 July – 10 July In a span of under three hours, three Junkers Ju 88As suffer controlled flight into terrain in northeast England, believed to be due to a British radio counter-measure 'Meacon' which falsifies German navigational beacon signals and caused the planes to fly headlong into coastal hills. The first Ju 88A comes in from the sea in mist and flies into the ground at Speeton near Bridlington at 2348 hrs. All crew KWF. At 0006 hrs., another Junkers flies into a cliff at Cliff Farm, Staithes, Yorkshire, in bad weather, killing all crew. A third bomber comes in from the sea in mist and flies into the ground at a shallow angle at Speeton near Bridlington at 0120 hrs. The aircraft is burnt by the crew who are all captured. 15 July A Heinkel He.111 bomber, DA+AZ, of Luftwaffe flight school FFS (C) 12, goes out of control while returning to Prague Ruzyně Airport, Prague (Hlavní město Praha), Czechoslovakia, and crashes into a house at 975 Novotny Street in the village of Jeneč. Airframe destroyed. Two pilots, a student and instructor Marahrens Hans Otto Herbst, killed, but sole occupant of the house, railwayman Mr. Rufr, Spice, survives. Luftwaffe pays for identical rebuild of the destroyed home. 23 July While deployed to Alpena, Michigan, for a gunnery exercise, Lt. James R. Taylor of the 71st Pursuit Squadron, flying Lockheed YP-38 Lightning, 39-695, of