Date:	Saturday 19 August 1944
Time:	01:34
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	7 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PB148
MSN:	MG-C
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Overdie polder at Alkmaar, Noord-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	Sterkrade, Duisburg

Narrative:
It took off from its base at Oakington, near Cambridge, at 23:04 18/08/1944. It was of a force of 214 aircraft (196 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos) that was sent to attack a synthetic oil plant at Sterkrade, just north of Duisburg, and they bombed their target between 00:45 and 01:16 on 19/08/1944. The air ministry daily summary issued on 20/08/1944 stated that a Halifax and Lancaster were both missing.

The missing aircraft was PB148 and that as a pathfinder, it would have been one of the earliest in the target area and given its crash location* it was presumably on its home bound journey. All are buried in Holland at Bergen General Cemetery.

Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Lieutenant Patrick George McCarthy DFC RAFVR 173522 [Killed] (NCO:1318114 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 02 May, 1944)
Flight Engineer : Flight Sergeant John Charles Gay RAFVR 1436052 [Killed]
Navigator : Pilot Officer Alan Bright Hargrave RAFVR 178830 [Killed] (NCO:256139 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 22 August, 1944)
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer Kenneth Stanway Carr RAFVR 145812 [Killed] (NCO:1238315 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 06 July, 1943)
Bomb Aimer : Pilot Officer Michael Stuart Layton-Smith RAFVR 183715 [Killed] (NCO:1322671 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 10 October, 1944)
Wireless Operator : Pilot Officer Frederick Charles Allford RAFVR 178946 [Killed] (NCO:1126167 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 22 August, 1944)
Mid-Upper Gunner : Flight Sergeant Ernest Arthur Batterbee RAFVR 1873692 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Pilot Officer Basil Farrel Blatchford RAFVR 178645 [Killed] (NCO:1189754 Commission Gazetted : Saturday 15 July, 1944)

Oberleutnant Hans-Peter Schickling (7./NJG 1, flying a Bf 110 G-4) claimed a four engined aircraft 5-20 km W of IJmuiden (GJ3)(3,200m) at 01:34 hrs. This has been identified as 7 Squadron Lancaster PB148.

http://www.soerensezand.nl/verliesregister-1944.pdf
Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1944 Page 389.
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part four
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.beeldbankbergen.nl/cgi-bin/wargraves.pl%3Fident%3D0044%26search%3DVELD%2520title%2520Carr%26inword%3D2%26display%3Dlist%26istart%3D1&prev=search
https://dalyhistory.wordpress.com/tag/raf-oakington/
Google Maps
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
25-Aug-2013 13:40	JINX	Updated [Operator, Phase, Source, Narrative]
03-Jul-2016 15:19	Red Dragon	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
12-Nov-2018 16:57	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator]
05-Sep-2020 12:38	Anon.	Updated [Time, Destination airport, Narrative]
05-Sep-2020 12:40	harro	Updated [Source]
05-Mar-2021 13:21	TigerTimon	Updated [Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
07-May-2022 16:14	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]
06-Jan-2024 15:41	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative]