Date:	Sunday 7 January 1945
Time:
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	635 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PB228
MSN:	F2-N
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Hanau (Hessen) -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Downham Market, UK
Destination airport:	RAF Downham Market

Narrative:
Mission to Hanau. Took off from RAF Downham Market at 1550 hrs. Those who perished rest in Durnbach War Cemetery. Flt Lt Yanovich RNZAF was flying as a second air bomber. It is likely this aircraft exploded in flight, throwing clear Flt Lt Rowland RAAF.
Flt Lt Rowland of PB228 sincerely believed that five of his crew had baled out before he himself left the aircraft. He did not actually see them get out of the nose of the aircraft, nor witness any parachutes in the air, nor see any of the five on the ground, but he watched five of them go forward down into the nose of the Lancaster where the front escape hatch was situated and believed that they had sufficient time to get out. It appears that the late Sir James Rowland believed for the rest of his life that five of his crew got out and were then probably murdered.
Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Lieutenant James Anthony Rowland RAAF Aus/22056 [PoW]
Flight Engineer : Flight Sergeant William Roland Hill RAFVR 1683935 [Killed]
Navigator : Pilot Officer Colin Downie Mackenzie RAFVR 188715 [Killed] (NCO:1343857 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 23 January, 1945)
Bomb Aimer : Flight Lieutenant Hereward Robert Sindall RAFVR 153740 [Killed] (NCO:1802866 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 07 December, 1943)
2nd Bomb Aimer : Flight Lieutenant Ivan Thomas Yanovich RNZAF NZ/39301 [Killed]
Wireless Operator : Flying Officer James Richard Donald RAAF Aus/423676 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Flying Officer Charles Frederick Jelley DFC RAFVR 161812 [Killed] (NCO:1836097 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 04 January, 1944)
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Renison Whybrow RAFVR 1595362 [Killed]

Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
RAF Command Forum Hanau 6/7 Jan 1945.http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?6646-Hanau-6-7-Jan-1945/page5
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 38
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

6 March 1945

PB921

635 Sqn RAF

6

Chemnitz, Saxony

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Aug-2013 21:31	JINX	Added
18-May-2016 13:34	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
23-Oct-2018 20:32	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator]
28-Oct-2019 14:26	Uli Elch	Updated [Operator, Location]
01-Nov-2019 20:00	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]
06-Jan-2024 07:59	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative]