ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 198605
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| Date: | Wednesday 25 April 1945 |
| Time: | morning |
| Type: |  Avro Lancaster B Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | 619 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | LM756 |
| MSN: | PG-F |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Adnet, near Spumberg, district of Hallein, state of Salzburg. -
 Austria
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire |
Lancaster LM756 was part of an order for 350 Lancasters completed by A V Roe (Yeadon), and the aircraft was delivered to No 619 Squadron in October 1944, by which time the Squadron had moved from RAF Dunholme Lodge to RAF Strubby, also in Lincolnshire.
LM756 was shot down in the last two weeks of the war in Europe. By that time, Allied forces had advanced into Germany from both East and West, and gradually tightened their grip on the German forces, pushing them into an ever-decreasing area. Allied intelligence believed that the Nazi leadership had prepared a ‘last-stand’ stronghold for themselves and their remaining forces in the mountainous terrain known as the Obersalzberg in the south-eastern part of Germany, close to the town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. Hitler and other senior Nazis had built a housing complex in the Obersalzberg before the War, together with SS barracks, and the construction of underground command facilities had begun there in 1943.
RAF Bomber Command dispatched 359 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitoes on 25 April 1945 to attack the Nazi leadership buildings in the Obersalzberg area, while B-24 Liberator bombers of the US Army Air Force attacked communications targets in the surrounding region.
Lancaster LM756 PG-F took off on the mission from RAF Strubby at 4.19am, one of six Lancasters of No 619 Squadron allocated to the raid. LM756 was one of six ‘wind-finder’ aircraft for the attacking force, whose task was to lead the bomber stream, release clouds of aluminium foil strips (known as ‘Window’) to disrupt German radars, and broadcast details of actual wind direction and velocity over the target back to Bomber Command. This information was then collated and re-broadcast by Bomber Command to the following aircraft, so that the settings on their bomb sights could be adjusted.
The attacking force had difficulty locating the targets because of the mountainous terrain — even the specially equipped Mosquito marker aircraft flying at 39,000 feet were unable to receive the necessary navigation signals from UK-based transmitters. The specific target for LM756 was the SS barracks complex. Anti-aircraft fire around the target was heavy and the attacking aircraft were subjected to crossfire from multiple gun batteries.
LM756 released its bombs on target and held its course so that the on board cameras could record the bomb strikes. One bomb landed in the middle of the parade square and another hit the barrack buildings. Suddenly, the aircraft received several hits, and was then hit simultaneously from multiple directions. The intercom was put out of action, so the crew were unable to communicate with each other, and the inner engines on both the port and starboard sides were on fire. The main fuel cock that balanced the fuel in the wing tanks had been cut, and the leaking fuel created an inferno at the rear of the aircraft. Only three of the crew managed to bail out before the Lancaster crashed into the side of a mountain, near the village of Adnet district of Hallein, in the state of Salzburg, Austria. Of the crew of seven, four were killed, and three survived to be taken as POWs
Crew:
Flying Officer Wilfred Tarquinas de Marco (Pilot, Service Number J/29166, Canadian) Killed
Pilot Officer Norman Hubert Johnston (Navigator, Service Number J/95522, Canadian) Killed
Sergeant Edward William Norman (Mid-Upper Gunner, Service Number 2221343, aged 19) Killed
Warrant Officer Gordon Victor Walker (Rear Gunner, Service Number R/212817, Canadian aged 25) Killed
Sergeant Freddie J Cole (Flight Engineer) Prisoner of War
Flight Sergeant Arthur H Sharman (Bomb Aimer) Prisoner of War
Flight Sergeant Jackie W Speers (Wireless Operator) Prisoner of War
This was one of the last ever Lancaster Bomber crews to suffer loss of life on operations in World War Two. The three survivors had been repatriated by June 1945. They spent only 12 days as POWs: captured 25-4-1945. WW II (V-E Day) 8-5-1945.
A memorial to the crew of LM756 was unveiled at the crash site on 25 April 2015 - the 70th anniversary of the crash (see link #11 for photos of the unveiling ceremony).
Sources:
1. http://www.bundesheer.at/download_archiv/pdfs/missing_in_action.pdf
2. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=LM756
3. http://www.williamfarr.lincs.sch.uk/about-us/royal-air-force-heritage/artefacts-in-the-raf-heritage-collection-at-william-farr-school/lancaster-mk-iii-lm756-of-no-619-squadron
4. https://619lancasteradnet.weebly.com/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2805327/de-marco,-wilfred-tarquinas/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2805485/johnston,-norman-hubert/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2805594/norman,-edward-william/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2805734/walker,-gordon-victor/
9. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/charlie-angus/world-war-ii-bombers-canadian-crew_b_4703500.html
10. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/austrian-town-to-erect-memorial-for-canadian-bomber-pilots-blasted-out-of-the-skies-in-second-world-war-battle
11. https://619lancasteradnet.weebly.com/6-the-memorial-unveiling-ceremony-in-adnet.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnet
13. https://www.flightartworks.com/media/52910bfd-4b89-4e4c-a4c4-d7922ba0f852-berchtesgaden-lancaster-f-for-freddy-black-and-white-version/share
14. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kevin-ruane-1
15. https://www.bostonstandard.co.uk/news/your-say/letter-i-m-trying-to-trace-my-cousin-who-served-in-the-raf-1-6549145
16. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 18 October 1943 | EE109 | 619 Sqn RAF | 8 | junction of Emdenstraße and Weddigenufer, Hannover, Niedersachsen |  |
w/o |
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Aug-2017 09:45 | Alpine Flight | Added |
| 29-Apr-2018 16:01 | tachel | Updated [Total occupants, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Oct-2018 21:41 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 08-Oct-2018 21:43 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 09-Oct-2018 18:20 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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