ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 159490
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| Date: | Sunday 4 March 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Avro Lancaster Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 467 Sqn RAAF |
| Registration: | PB806 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Dortmund-Ems Canal, Ladbergen, near Dortmund (NRW) -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire |
On the night of March 3/4, 1945, Number 5 Group of Royal Air Force Bomber Command despatched 212 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitoes to Ladbergen, near Dortmund, to bomb the aqueduct of the Dortmund-Ems canal. Nine Lancasters failed to return.
Among the nine was PB806 "PO-W" of 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, piloted by Squadron Leader Eric le Page Langlois of South Australia. Langlois, the squadron's commanding officer, was promoted to Wing Commander the next day, but he was never to know it. He and four of his crew were never found.
Crew:-
Pilot : Wing Commander Eric Le Page Langlois DFC RAAF Aus/416685 [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Flight Sergeant John Scott RAFVR 1591065 [Killed]
Navigator : Flying Officer Alan Frank Reid DFC RAAF Aus/421050 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer J H Willmott RAAF [PoW]
Wireless Operator : Flying Officer Evan Charles Patten DFC RAAF Aus/409437 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Flying Officer Charles Jackson Cameron RAAF Aus/434868 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Flying Officer Robert Edward Taylor RAAF Aus/25299 [PoW]
Exactly what happened that night may never be fully known, but it is clear that they were the victims of an attack by one of the few night fighters which were seen over the target. After a desperate running fight, PB806 was hit in the bomb bay and a raging fire ensued. Langlois ordered his crew to clip on their parachutes and, shortly afterwards, gave the order to abandon the stricken aircraft.
The two survivors of Eric Langlois's crew, Taylor, the rear gunner, and Wilmott, the bomb-aimer, had landed safely by parachute. They were both taken prisoner. Taylor was sent to Stalag IVA until released by the Americans on 11th May 1945, and Wilmott to Stalag XIIIA, and was released from Moosburg by the American Army on 29th April 1945.
John Scott and his four Australian crew mates have no known grave. The RAF Missing Research and Enquiry Unit abandoned their investigations into the incident in 1946. However, F/O Taylor was told by French farm workers that five allied aircrew, four Australians and one Englishman, were captured and shot by SS near Dortmund that night.
Their names, however, are commemorated in stone panels at the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede and are inscribed in the RAF Book of Remembrance in St Clement Danes Church in The Strand, London.
Sources:
1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. http://web.archive.org/web/20071103225232/http://www.wartimememories.co.uk:80/allied/royalairforce/467sqd-raf.html
3. http://lancaster-archive.com/lanc_unknowncrashsites.pdf
4. http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/canal_raids/loss_details/loss_pb806
5. http://www.anzacsons.com/anzacsons_website_091.htm
6. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Aug-2013 02:18 | JINX | Added |
| 15-Dec-2014 09:39 | Wilbur | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Narrative] |
| 28-Dec-2014 08:08 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Dec-2014 08:09 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total fatalities] |
| 28-Dec-2014 08:10 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 28-Oct-2019 15:18 | Uli Elch | Updated [Operator, Location] |
| 01-Nov-2019 20:04 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 21-Mar-2020 14:58 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 03-Mar-2024 07:59 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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