Date:	Monday 9 April 1945
Time:
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	50 Sqn RAF
Registration:	NG342
MSN:	VN-S
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wollingst -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Skellingthorpe
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Bombing sortie on Hamburg. Suspected target: North Wharf, Hamburg. Departed from station RAF Skellingthorpe at 14:42 and later reported missing with the initial report indicating no news since take-off. Whether NG342's bombing mission was completed is unclear.

NG342 is suspected to have been shot down. As a result, the aircraft apparently broke into two separate pieces mid-air and exploded when it crashed in the village of Wollingst, approximately 28 miles north of Bremen, Germany. All seven crew were KIA. Five bodies were recovered from a part of the wreckage two days later and subsequently buried in Wollingst Cemetery. On 12 November 1945, the remaining two crew members' bodies were found under another part of the wreckage and subsequently buried in Wollingst. The bodies were exhumed and reinterred in graves alongside each other in the British Military Cemetery in Ohlsdorf, Hamburg in February 1947.

Timeline of Events
• 9 April 1945: NG342 reported missing
• 11 April 1945: Five bodies recovered from wreckage and subsequently buried in Wollingst Cemetery
• 12 November 1945: Three more bodies (later revised to two) were recovered from under the wreckage and buried in Wollingst on 5 Jan 1946 (note: the crashed aircraft had broken into two pieces)
• 20 February 1947: Investigation by Search Officer F/LT Delaurier, “G” Section No. 4 M.R.E.U., R.A.F. (Germany). Bodies exhumed. Positive identification of four crew members.
• 26 February 1947: Bodies of crew members reburied in Hamburg (Ohlsdorf) Cemetery, Germany, Plot IV, Row K, Graves 7-13 inclusive

Crew:-
Pilot : Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman RAAF Aus/17354 [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant Edward Ford RAFVR 1851367 [Killed]
Navigator : Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Ernest Richard Westacott RAFVR 1398165 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flight Sergeant John Power Newbigging RAFVR 1673392 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Flight Sergeant Ernest Arthur Walker RAFVR 1876300 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Flight Sergeant Anthony William Jones RAFVR 1614174 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Flight Sergeant Norman Lewis Garfield Felton RAFVR 1580371 [Killed]

• National Archives of Australia, BERRIMAN Vincent Gerald - (Flying Officer); Service Number - 17354; File type - Casualty - Repatriation; Aircraft - Lancaster 342; Place - Hamburg, Germany; Date - 9 April 1945. National Archives of Australia. Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1063073&isAv=N [Accessed January 22, 2022]
• Air Britain: RAF Aircraft NA100 - NZ999, published 1992
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

27 September 1943	EE189	50 Sqn RAF	6	Groß Förste, Giesen, Niedersachsen		w/o
25 July 1944	PA968	50 Sqn RAF	7	between Callac and Porcherais at Pontchâteau (Loire-Atlantique)		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Sep-2011 06:20	Uli Elch	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Sep-2011 03:00	Uli Elch	Updated [Source]
03-Feb-2016 08:18	janvince	Updated [Location, Narrative]
02-Jun-2016 17:20	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
31-Oct-2018 14:34	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]
22-Jan-2022 09:00	Anon.	Updated [Registration, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2022 07:52	Anon.	Updated [Source, Narrative, Photo]
24-Jan-2022 08:18	Anon.	Updated [Source, Narrative]
24-Jan-2022 08:18	harro	Updated [Destination airport]
09-Apr-2024 07:16	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]