Date:	Thursday 22 June 1944
Time:	01:12 LT
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	49 Sqn RAF
Registration:	ME675
MSN:	EA-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near 'Wellenseind' 3 km northeast of Bladel, Noord-Brabant -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Fiskerton
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Took off from RAF Fiskerton at 23:03 hrs for a bombing operation against the synthetic oil plant at Wesseling in Germany.

Outward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by the night fighter crew of Oberleutnant Lau, Unteroffizier Backhaus & Gefreiter Reinecke in a Bf 110 G-4 of 4./NJG 1, who had taken off from Deelen airfield.

Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Lieutenant John Rowland Hill RAFVR 126789 (NCO:1027677 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 18 August, 1942) [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant George Frederick Witty RAFVR 2204999 [Killed]
Navigator : Flying Officer Kenneth Walton Jones RNZAF NZ/425576 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flight Sergeant David McFarlane Forsyth Bell RAFVR 1566466 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Thomas Birtwistle Whewell RAFVR 1232608 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant Thomas Albert Hall RAFVR 944380 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Flight Sergeant George Frederick Wood RAFVR 3050138 [Killed]

All are buried in Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery. Flt Lt Hil held a Bachelor of Science degree:

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part three
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T3833&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
Google Maps
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1944 Page 291.
http://www.49squadron.co.uk/personnel_index/detail/Hill_JR
K.E. 8984 (German record) for location, via J. Woortman
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

11 August 1943	ED625	49 Sqn RAF	5	near Bad Kreuznach, Rheinland-Pfalz		w/o
3 November 1943	ED438	49 Sqn RAF	4	Hastenrath bei Düren		w/o
14 January 1944	JB295	49 Sqn RAF	5	near Reppner, Salzgitter, Niedersachsen		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
20-Jun-2016 17:29	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
30-Oct-2018 04:53	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
12-Oct-2020 16:57	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
12-Oct-2020 16:57	TigerTimon	Updated [Narrative]
30-Jan-2021 20:49	TigerTimon	Updated [Location, Source]
06-Apr-2024 09:55	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]