Accident Avro Lancaster Mk III ND478,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 192810
 
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Date:Tuesday 15 February 1944
Time:19:57
Type:Silhouette image of generic LANC model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:97 (The Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF
Registration: ND478
MSN: OF-Q
Fatalities:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:Mmeadow 150 metres south of Faaborg hospital, Syddanmark -   Denmark
Phase: Combat
Nature:Military
Departure airport:RAF Bourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Narrative:
Takeoff at 17:05 hrs for an operation to Berlin.
Outward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by night fighter pilot Hauptmann Erhard Peters of the 9./NJG 3 (based at Stade airfield in Germany), who was flying a Bf 110 G-4.
The Lanc exploded in mid-air. Five crew members did not survive.

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer James Faulds McLean RAF 155775 (NCO:996584 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 05 October, 1943) [PoW, repatriated]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant William Dennis French RAF 632441 [Killed]
Navigator : Sergeant Arthur Pestell RAFVR 1578440 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer Leslie Stevens RCAF J/22843 [PoW]
Wireless Operator : Sergeant Walter Edward Brown RAFVR 1389618 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant Ralph Terence Charles RAFVR 1874041 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Flight Sergeant Robert Daniel Murdoch RAAF Aus/418545 [Killed]

The bodies of Sgts Brown, Charles, French and Pestell were found with the fuselage and were laid in white painted coffins. They were laid to rest in Faaborg cemetery by the Wehrmacht without ecclesiastical assistance on the morning of 18/2 1944.

Sources:

http://www.flensted.eu.com/1944015.shtml
Google Maps
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
24 August 1943 EE105 97 (Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF 1 near Shouldham, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England w/o
16 December 1943 JA963 97 (Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF 8 near the Schiller Park, Schillerstraße, Berlin w/o
30 January 1944 JB535 97 (The Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF 7 Kanaalweg road, Kolhorn, Noord-Holland w/o
12 September 1944 PB510 97 (The Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF 3 Hargesheim w/o
22 March 1945 PB521 97 (The Straits Settlements) Sqn RAF 4 South of the Elbe at Feldmark Leeswig, Hamburg-Neuenfelde w/o

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
13-Jan-2017 13:46 gerard57 Added
23-Dec-2019 18:54 TigerTimon Updated [Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Feb-2024 07:52 Rob Davis Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]

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