Lancaster (Total: 7,377, Canadian: 542, Group 537)
Avro Lancaster
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.
The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins and in one version, Bristol Hercules engines. It first saw service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it was the main aircraft for the night-time bombing campaigns that followed. As increasing numbers of the type were produced, it became the principal heavy bomber used by the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within the RAF, overshadowing the Halifax and Stirling. Wikipedia
WikipediaLancaster Mk.I/III serial ED303
s/n ED303
m/d 683
Avro
ED 303
Merlin
Known Units: 467;106
Delivered to No. 467 (Australian) Sqn Nov 1942. Transferred to No. 106 Sqn. Fitted with new Merlin 22s Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Hamburg 27/28 Jul 1943. This was the second of the 4 raids that constituted the Battle of Hamburg. It was the 8th aircraft of 21 lost that night, probably to a night fighter. Crew were on their 2nd operation.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED304
s/n ED304
m/d 683
Avro
ED 304
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED305
s/n ED305
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 305
Merlin
Known Units: 44
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED306
s/n ED306
m/d 683
Avro
ED 306
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED307
s/n ED307
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 307
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED308
s/n ED308
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 308
Merlin
Known Units: 57 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED309
s/n ED309
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 309
Merlin
Known Units: 467;50;44
First with No. 467 (Australian) Sqn, then to 50 Sqn Dec 1942, then to No. 44 Sqn Jan 1943. Missing on Gardening operation to Lorient 7/8 Feb 1943. 139 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
1943-February-08 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 Harry Gordon Black 2025-07-15 1943-February-08 KIA RCAF Sergeant Robert William Drury 2025-07-15 1943-February-08 KIA RCAF Flying Officer John Whitla Millar 2025-07-15 1943-February-08 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 Kenneth Mitchell Perkins 2025-07-15 1943-February-08 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant William Wilson Scrimgeour 2025-07-15 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED310
s/n ED310
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 310
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn;15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED311
s/n ED311
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 311
Merlin
Known Units: 83
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED312
s/n ED312
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 312
Merlin
Known Units: 83
Delivered to No. 83 Sqn (OL-F) Nov 1942. On operation to Stettin 20/21 Apr 1943, the crew baled out over Sweden after battle damage and were interned before being returned to the UK. The aircraft crashed at Klagshamn, Swedenlast update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED313
s/n ED313
m/d 683
Avro
ED 313
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED314
s/n ED314
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 314
Merlin
Known Units: 61 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED315
s/n ED315
m/d 683
Avro
ED 315
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED316
s/n ED316
m/d 683
Avro
ED 316
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED317
s/n ED317
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 317
Merlin
Known Units: 625 Sqn; PNTU
Started at No. 1656 CU, then to No, 101 Sqn (SR-Q), then to No. 100 Sqn. Finally with No. 625 Sqn (CF-W). Missing from operation to Berlin 24/25 Mar 1944.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED318
s/n ED318
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 318
Merlin
Known Units: 44
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED319
s/n ED319
m/d 683
Avro
ED 319
Merlin
Known Units: 57
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED320
s/n ED320
m/d 683
Avro
ED 320
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED321
s/n ED321
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 321
Merlin
Known Units: 101;625
Started with No. 101 Sqn in Dec 1942 as SR-K, but also carried SR-E and SR-D codes. Transferred to No. 625 Sqn (CF-U) in late 1943. Missing on operation to Dusseldorf 3/4 Nov 1944. 371 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED322
s/n ED322
m/d 683
Avro
ED 322
Merlin
Known Units: 101
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn Nov 1942. Missing on its first operation to Mannheim 6/7 Dec 1942. The aircraft crashed into the sea off S. Wales.last update: 2025-July-30
1942-December-07 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Leonard Roy Anderson 2024-08-21 1942-December-07 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Howard Earl Dabbs DFC 2024-08-21 1942-December-07 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Stefan Franchuk 2024-08-21 1942-December-07 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Robert John Middleton 2024-08-21 1942-December-07 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Robert Gordon Smith 2024-08-21 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED323
s/n ED323
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 323
Merlin
Known Units: 97;1661HCU;15
Originally with 97 Sqn (OF-O), then to No. 1661 CU (GP-O) May 1943, then to No. 15 Sqn (LS-D) Dec 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 27/28 Jan 1944. 745 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED324
s/n ED324
m/d 683
Avro
ED 324
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED325
s/n ED325
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 325
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED326
s/n ED326
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 326
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED327
s/n ED327
m/d 683
Avro
ED 327
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED328
s/n ED328
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 328
Merlin
Known Units: 101 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED329
s/n ED329
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 329
Merlin
Known Units: 207
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED330
s/n ED330
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 330
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED331
s/n ED331
m/d 683
Avro
ED 331
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED332
s/n ED332
m/d 683
Avro
ED 332
Merlin
Known Units: 61
Delivered to No. 61 Sqn 6 Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Berlin 16/17 Jan 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED333
s/n ED333
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 333
Merlin
Known Units: 97
Delivered to No. 97 Sqn (OF-B) Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Neustadt 17/18 Dec 1942. 7 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
1942-December-17 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Stanley Finace Mattoon 2021-08-16 1942-December-17 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Samuel Lorne McBurney 2021-08-17 1942-December-17 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Leonard Everett Thorneycroft 2021-10-02 1942-December-17 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Chester Charles Trudell 2021-07-14 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED334
s/n ED334
m/d 683
Avro
ED 334
Merlin
Known Units: 83
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED347
s/n ED347
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 347
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED348
s/n ED348
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 348
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED349
s/n ED349
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 349
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-S) Nov 1942. Missing on mission to Cloppenburg 17/18 Dec 1942last update: 2025-August-02
1942-December-17 PoW RAAF Sergeant Elliot Richmond Aldridge 2024-11-01
1942-December-17 PoW RAF Sergeant Leslie Britton Holmes 2022-05-09 1942-December-17 PoW RAF Sergeant John Richard Lord 2022-05-09 1942-December-17 PoW RAF Sergeant Alexander Stoddart MacKinley 2022-05-09
1942-December-17 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant William Harvey Penn 2023-10-30 1942-December-17 PoW RAF Sergeant Albert Willis 2022-05-09 1942-December-17 PoW RCAF Warrant Officer 1 John Wilson 2024-11-01 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED350
s/n ED350
m/d 683
Avro
ED 350
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED351
s/n ED351
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 351
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
Delivered to No. 44 Sqn (KM-Y) Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Duisburg 8/9 Apr 1943. 176 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED352
s/n ED352
m/d 683
Avro
ED 352
Merlin
Known Units: 49;57
To No. 49 Sqn Dec 1942 then transferred to No. 57 Sqn Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Turin 4/5 Feb 1943. 54 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED353
s/n ED353
m/d 683
Avro
ED 353
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED354
s/n ED354
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 354
Merlin
Known Units: 460 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED355
s/n ED355
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 355
Merlin
Known Units: 44
Delivered to No. 44 Sqn (KM-D) Dec 1942. Lost on operation to Nienburg 17/18 Dec 1942 on first operation (4 operational hours).last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED356
s/n ED356
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 356
Merlin
Known Units: 207
Delivered to No. 207 Sqn (EM-W) Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Nuremburg on 25/26 Feb 1943. 83 flying hourslast update: 2025-August-02
1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Sergeant John Stanley Fayle 2024-05-26 1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Robert Stanley Hannah 2024-05-26 1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Murray Kerr Sexton 2024-06-28 1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Flying Officer George Howard Wheeler 2024-07-12 1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Percy Gordon Williams 2024-07-12 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED357
s/n ED357
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 357
Merlin
Known Units: 12
Delivered to No. 12 Sqn Dec 1942. Took part in the squadron's first Lancaster operation (Gardening) 3/4 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Dusseldorf 11/12 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED358
s/n ED358
m/d 683
Avro
ED 358
Merlin
Known Units: 106
With No. 106 Sqn from Dec 1942. It had 3 major repairs during its lifetime. Missing from operation to Leipzig 20/21 Oct 1943. 300 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED359
s/n ED359
m/d 683
Avro
ED 359
Merlin
Known Units: ;61
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED360
s/n ED360
m/d 683
Avro
ED 360
Merlin
Known Units: 467;106
Delivered to No. 467 (Australian) Sqn Dec 1942. During its time with 467, there was one fatality, RCAF Flight Sergeant Alvin J. Broemeling, rear gunner, who died as a result of faulty oxygen equipment on 16 Jan 1943. Transferred to No. 106 Sqn Feb 1943. Crashed near Wisbech on operation to Cologne 9 Jul 1943. Mason says on return from the sortie, RAF Commands website suggests that the aircraft may have been in trouble after setting out (took off 2225 8 July from Syerston. Crashed 0140 9 July). 354 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-01-15 to 1943-01-16
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, England
Delivered to No. 467 Australian Squadron (Recidite Adversarius Atque Ferociter) in Dec 1942. RAF Bottesford Lancaster I aircraft ED 360 on a raid to Berlin, Germany. Rear gunner FS AJ Broemeling (RCAF) failed to respond on the intercom and was found unconscious, probably due to failure of his oxygen mask. His issued mask was found to be faulty and he was given the spare mask carried aboard instead. The spare mask was an older version prone to freezing and it is believed to have malfunctioned at the 19,000 ft altitude and temperatures about -50C that the aircraft was flying. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Thiele RNZAF, quickly dived to a lower altitude then put the bomber on auto pilot while still in the target area to assist in pulling Flight Sergeant Broemeling out of his turret, but despite continuous artificial respiration being applied by the rest of the crew (Sergeant Bovis RAF, Sergeant Metcalfe RAF, Sergeant Sheekey RAF, Sergeant Gillman RAF and Sergeant Everard RAF). The aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire several times but managed to limp back to Botteford. FS Broemeling was declared dead when the aircraft landed (A. Storr). Lancaster I ED 360 was shot down six months later, flying with 106 Sqn, on July 9, 1943.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED361
s/n ED361
m/d 683
Avro
ED 361
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED362
s/n ED362
m/d 683
Avro
ED 362
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Dekivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-E, later HW-E2) from No. 32 MU 12 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 28/29 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED363
s/n ED363
m/d 683
E
Avro
ED 363
Merlin
Known Units: 467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Cologne Germany 1943-06-29 to 1943-06-29
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, Leicesershire, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 363 (PO-E) crashed in Roermond, Holland. Two RAAF, and four RAF members of the crew were also killed. Target - Cologne, Germany. W/O T.W.J. Copeland (RCAF), FS. RI Gates (RAAF), Sgt's G.R.C. Cayless (RAF), J.G. Hole (RAF), and H.H. Mooney (RAF) were also killed. Two RAF members of the crew, Sgt.'s E. Pike and D. Dolby were taken Prisoners Of War.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED364
s/n ED364
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 364
Merlin
Known Units: 467;207;1654HCU;622
Originally with No. 467 (Australian) Sqn, then transferred to No. 207 Sqn (EM-H), then to No. 1654 CU and finally to No. 622 Sqn. Missing on operation to Berlin 30/31 Jan 1944. 398 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED365
s/n ED365
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 365
Merlin
Known Units: 207
Delivered to No. 207 Sqn (EM-U) Jan 1943. Missing on mission to Hamburg, 3/4 Mar 1943. 82 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED366
s/n ED366
m/d 683
Avro
ED 366
Merlin
Known Units: 166
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED367
s/n ED367
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 367
Merlin
Known Units: 467
With No. 467 (Australian) Sqn. First aircraft lost by this squadron. Failed to return from operation to Duisburg 8/9 Jan 1943last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Duisburg Germany 1943-01-08 to 1943-01-09
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, England
467 (Australian) Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 367, first aircraft lost by 467 Sqn, failed to return from operations over enemy territory. Five RCAF members, P/O's R.T. Hanbidge, A.M. Wark, FS's S.V. Woyce, D.H. Powell, and H.A. Horton were killed. RAF Sgt.'s E Florey and J. Humphries were also killed. 1943-January-08 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Ralph Trever Hanbidge 2024-01-23 1943-January-08 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Harold Albert Horton 2021-10-02 1943-January-08 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant David Haynes Barcham Powell 2021-09-30 1943-January-08 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Albert Mercier Wark 2021-10-02 1943-January-08 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Stanley Verdun Woyce 2021-10-02 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED368
s/n ED368
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 368
Merlin
Known Units: PNTU; BCIS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED369
s/n ED369
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 369
Merlin
Known Units: 460 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED370
s/n ED370
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 370
Merlin
Known Units: 101;103;460
Originally with No. 101 Sqn, as SR-D, SR-J and SR-B. Passed to No. 103 Sqn and then to No. 460 (Australian) Sqn. Missing on operation to Berlin 26/27 Nov 1943. 250 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-11-26 to 1943-11-26
460 () Sqn (RAAF) RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England
460 Australia Squadron (Strike And Return). Lancaster aircraft ED 370, part of a combined force of 443 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes, went missing during an attack against Berlin, Germany. Returning crews reported heavy flak over Berlin and night fighters while homeward bound. Killed were RCAF Sgt. G.D. Arnott (air gunner) and Flt. Sgt. N.W. McNair (bomb aimer); RAAF Flt. Sgt. E.J. Stones (pilot); and RAF Sgt's. R.G. Jones (flight engineer), K.G. Smith (navigator), W. Belton (wireless operator / air gunner), and J.H. McIvor (air gunner).Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED371
s/n ED371
m/d 683
Avro
ED 371
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED372
s/n ED372
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 372
Merlin
Known Units: 83 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED373
s/n ED373
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 373
Merlin
Known Units: 101 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED374
s/n ED374
m/d 683
Avro
ED 374
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED375
s/n ED375
m/d 683
Avro
ED 375
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED376
s/n ED376
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 376
Merlin
Known Units: 100;1662HCU;15
Sterted with No. 100 Sqn, then to No. 1662 CU and then No. 15 Sqn. (LS-F) before going to No. 3 Lancaster Finishing School. Aircraft collided with Lancaster W 4851 and crashed at Southery, Norfolk 17-Jun-1944.last update: 2025-August-02
1944-June-17 KIFA RAFVR Sergeant Thomas William Bettridge 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RCAF Flying Officer Philip Horace Duval 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RCAF Flying Officer Donald Ross Gilchrist 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RCAF Sergeant Arthur Kenneth Hrycenko 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RCAF Sergeant Otis Wilfrid Libby 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RAFVR Sergeant Cyril Quanborough 2025-01-18 1944-June-17 KIFA RCAF Flying Officer Richard Reginald Frederick Whitby 2025-01-18 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED377
s/n ED377
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 377
Merlin
Known Units: 101
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED378
s/n ED378
m/d 683
Avro
ED 378
Merlin
Known Units: 1662HCU
To No. 1662 Conversion Unit 5 April 1943. Missing from training flight 14 Aug 1943last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED379
s/n ED379
m/d 683
Avro
ED 379
Merlin
Known Units: 101
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED380
s/n ED380
m/d 683
Avro
ED 380
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED381
s/n ED381
m/d 683
Avro
ED 381
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED382
s/n ED382
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 382
Merlin
Known Units: 101 Sqn; BCIS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED383
s/n ED383
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 383
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED384
s/n ED384
m/d 683
Avro
ED 384
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED385
s/n ED385
m/d 683
Avro
ED 385
Merlin
Known Units: 57;106
Delivered to No. 57 Sqn Dec 1942, then to No. 20 MU, then No. 106 Sqn Aug 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 3/4 Sep 1943. 99 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED386
s/n ED386
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 386
Merlin
Known Units: 12
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED387
s/n ED387
m/d 683
Avro
ED 387
Merlin
Known Units: 50
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED388
s/n ED388
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 388
Merlin
Known Units: 12
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED389
s/n ED389
m/d 683
Avro
ED 389
Merlin
Known Units: 103
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED390
s/n ED390
m/d 683
Avro
ED 390
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED391
s/n ED391
m/d 683
Avro
ED 391
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED392
s/n ED392
m/d 683
Avro
ED 392
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn;12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED393
s/n ED393
m/d 683
Avro
ED 393
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED394
s/n ED394
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 394
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn;50 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED395
s/n ED395
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 395
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn;15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED396
s/n ED396
m/d 683
Avro
ED 396
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster serial ED404
s/n ED404
m/d 683
ED 404
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster serial ED405
s/n ED405
m/d 683
ED 405
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster serial ED406
s/n ED406
m/d 683
ED 406
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster serial ED407
s/n ED407
m/d 683
ED 407
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED408
s/n ED408
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 408
Merlin
Known Units: 12
Delivered to No. 12 Sqn (PH-A) 2 Apr 1943. Missing on Gardening sortie 28/29 Apr 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED409
s/n ED409
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 409
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED410
s/n ED410
m/d 683
Avro
ED 410
Merlin
Known Units: 101 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED411
s/n ED411
m/d 683
Avro
ED 411
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED412
s/n ED412
m/d 683
Avro
ED 412
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED413
s/n ED413
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 413
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED414
s/n ED414
m/d 683
Avro
ED 414
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED415
s/n ED415
m/d 683
Avro
ED 415
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED416
s/n ED416
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 416
Merlin
Known Units: 49 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED417
s/n ED417
m/d 683
Avro
ED 417
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED418
s/n ED418
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 418
Merlin
Known Units: 207
Delivered to No. 207 Sqn (EM-G) 29 Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Duisburg 12/13 May 1943. 230 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED419
s/n ED419
m/d 683
Avro
ED 419
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED420
s/n ED420
m/d 683
Avro
ED 420
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED421
s/n ED421
m/d 683
Avro
ED 421
Merlin
Known Units: 460
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-08-23 to 1943-08-23
460 () Sqn (RAAF) RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England
460 Australia Squadron (Strike And Strike Again). Lancaster ED 421 took off from RAF Binbrook at 2055 hours on 23 August 1943 to attack Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Casualties included RAF Sgt's. W.A. Finlay (flight engineer) and T. Smale (air gunner); RAAF Flt. Sgt's. J.G. Collins (wireless operator / air gunner) and J. Marsh (air gunner). Taken Prisoners of War were RAAF Flt. Sgt's. K. Gay (navigator), J.C. Munro (bomb aimer), and A.T. Richards (pilot).Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED422
s/n ED422
m/d 683
Avro
ED 422
Merlin
Known Units: 166
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED423
s/n ED423
m/d 683
Avro
ED 423
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED424
s/n ED424
m/d 683
Avro
ED 424
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn;12 Sqn;626 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED425
s/n ED425
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 425
Merlin
Known Units: 3 LFS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED426
s/n ED426
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 426
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED427
s/n ED427
m/d 683
Avro
ED 427
Merlin
Known Units: 49
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Plzen 16/17 Apr 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED428
s/n ED428
m/d 683
Avro
ED 428
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED429
s/n ED429
m/d 683
Avro
ED 429
Merlin
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED430
s/n ED430
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 430
Merlin
Known Units: 622 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED431
s/n ED431
m/d 683
Avro
ED 431
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED432
s/n ED432
m/d 683
Avro
ED 432
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED433
s/n ED433
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 433
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED434
s/n ED434
m/d 683
Avro
ED 434
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Oberhausen Germany 1943-06-14 to 1943-06-15
(B) Sqn (RAF) Fiskerton
Battle of the Ruhr
An all Lancaster force of 197, guided by 6 Oboe Mosquitoes made a successful attack on Oberhausen. Despite the target being cloud-covered, accurate sky-marking enabled the bombers to do considerable damage. Twelve Lancasters lifted from Fiskerton's runway, the last one away by 22.32hrs. The crews found themselves engaged in a savage battle from both flak and fighters which resulted in Bomber Command losing 17 aircraft.
Of those missing: Sergeant Frost (ED434) and crew had been shot down by a German night fighter flown by Hauptmann Hans-Dieter Frank I./NJG1. The aircraft fell to the ground 2 kilometers East of Dodewaard, Holland at 01.13hrs. The pilot and flight engineer survived to become POW's in Stalag 357, Kopernikus; the remainder of the crew are buried in Uden War Cemetery.
1943-June-15 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Walter Lawrence Chatfield 2024-02-10 1943-June-15 KIA RAFVR Sergeant John Robert Coulsey 2024-05-02 1943-June-15 PoW RAF Sergeant Reginald Frost 2023-06-15 1943-June-15 PoW Sergeant Nathan Charles Hitchcock 2023-08-26 1943-June-15 KIA RAF Sergeant Victor Horsley 2023-06-15 1943-June-15 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Peter Alfred Toms 2023-06-15 1943-June-15 KIA RAFVR Flying Officer Alan Ewart Whittaker 2023-06-15 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED435
s/n ED435
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 435
Merlin
Known Units: 49
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn (EA-G, later EA-K) Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 29/30 Mar 1943. 75 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED436
s/n ED436
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 436
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED437
s/n ED437
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 437
Merlin
Known Units: 3 LFS;1661 HCU
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED438
s/n ED438
m/d 683
Avro
ED 438
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED439
s/n ED439
m/d 683
Avro
ED 439
Merlin
Known Units: 83
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED440
s/n ED440
m/d 683
Avro
ED 440
Merlin
Known Units: ;49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED441
s/n ED441
m/d 683
Avro
ED 441
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED442
s/n ED442
m/d 683
Avro
ED 442
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED443
s/n ED443
m/d 683
Avro
ED 443
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED444
s/n ED444
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 444
Merlin
Known Units: 49
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn 31 Dec 1942. Missing on operation to Berlin 17/18 Jan 1943. 11 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED445
s/n ED445
m/d 683
Avro
ED 445
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED446
s/n ED446
m/d 683
Avro
ED 446
Merlin
Known Units: 101
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED447
s/n ED447
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 447
Merlin
Known Units: 101
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing 1943-01-31 to 1943-01-31
101 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
101 Squadron RAF (Mens agitat molem) RAF Holme-on-spalding Moor. Lancaster Mk I aircraft ED 447 SR-Q was shot down by marine flak units on an operation to Hamburg Germany. First hit by 8/M Flak Abt 808 unit near Ijmuiden at 02:09 AM and then shot down by II Zug 2/Res Flak Abt 242 and 5/Res Flak Abt 242 units. The Lancaster crashed at Aalsmeerderweg Rijk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands at 02:17 AM with the loss of the entire crew.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Ralph Patrick Campbell (RCAF), Warrant Officer Class 2 Frank James Belanger (RCAF ), Warrant Officer Class 2 Gordon James Hutchinson (RCAF), Sergeant Samuel David Wall (RAFVR), Sergeant John Charles Jacques (RAFVR), Sergeant Wilfred Eric Debeurier (RAFVR) and Sergeant John Leslie Emery Barden (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part 1 1 January - 22 June, page 21
1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant John Leslie Emory Barden 2025-04-15 1943-January-31 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer Class II Frank James Belanger 2025-04-15 1943-January-31 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer Class II Ralph Patrick Campbell 2025-04-15
1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Wilfred Eric Debeurier 2025-04-15 1943-January-31 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer Class II Gordon James Hutchinson 2025-04-15 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant John Charles Jacques 2025-04-15 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Samuel David Wall 2025-04-15 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED448
s/n ED448
m/d 683
Avro
ED 448
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED449
s/n ED449
m/d 683
Avro
ED 449
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn. 9 Jan 1943. Missing on mission to Essen 12/12 Mar 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED450
s/n ED450
m/d 683
Avro
ED 450
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED451
s/n ED451
m/d 683
Avro
ED 451
Merlin
Known Units: 106
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED452
s/n ED452
m/d 683
Avro
ED 452
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED453
s/n ED453
m/d 683
Avro
ED 453
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED467
s/n ED467
m/d 683
Avro
ED 467
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED468
s/n ED468
m/d 683
Avro
ED 468
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED469
s/n ED469
m/d 683
Avro
ED 469
Merlin
Known Units: ;49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED470
s/n ED470
m/d 683
Avro
ED 470
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED471
s/n ED471
m/d 683
Avro
ED 471
Merlin
Known Units: 50
With No. 50 Sqn. Missing on operation to Berlin 17/18 Jan 1943. 5 operational hours (first op).last update: 2025-August-02
1943-January-17 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Leslie James Bond 2024-11-14 1943-January-17 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Jack Eastwood 2025-01-27 1943-January-17 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Iain Fraser 2025-01-27 1943-January-17 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Robert Harvie 2025-01-27 1943-January-17 KIA RAAF Pilot Officer Esmond Peter Heinrich 2025-01-27 1943-January-17 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 John Aylwin Moore 2025-01-27 1943-January-17 KIA RAF Flight Sergeant Arthur Gwilyn Thomas 2025-01-27 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED472
s/n ED472
m/d 683
Avro
ED 472
Merlin
Known Units: 50
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED473
s/n ED473
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 473
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn;15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED474
s/n ED474
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 474
Merlin
Known Units: 622 Sqn;622 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED475
s/n ED475
m/d 683
Avro
ED 475
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED476
s/n ED476
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 476
Merlin
Known Units: 12;9
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED477
s/n ED477
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 477
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED478
s/n ED478
m/d 683
Avro
ED 478
Merlin
Known Units: 50
With No. 50 Sqn Jan 1943. Aircraft ditched in the North Sea whilst jettisoning its bombs after a return from the target Frankfurt 10/11 Apr 1943. 143 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED479
s/n ED479
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 479
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED480
s/n ED480
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 480
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-U) 21 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Gelsenkirchen 9/10 Jul 1943. 250 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED481
s/n ED481
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 481
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-N) 15 Jan 1943. Crashed near Topcliffe on return from mission to Hamburg, 30/31 Jan 1943. 19 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Hamburg Germany 1943-01-30 to 1943-01-31
9 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Waddington
9 Squadron RAF (Per noctum volamus) RAF Waddington. After completing a successful bombing operation against targets in Hamburg, Germany, Lancaster III aircraft ED 481 WS-N "Little Fat Kid" returned over Lincolnshire to poor weather conditions. The bomber was diverted to Leeming airfield in Yorkshire but due to worsening weather conditions the crew became lost while continuing to search for a suitable landing site. Eventually, as fuel reserves became critical despite having feathered three of the four engines, the aircraft lost altitude only to discover they were too low to safely bail out. Unable to see the ground but out of time and options, the landing gear was lowered in an attempt to put the bomber down on the North Yorkshire Moors. Sadly, the aircraft instead flew into the high ground at Hawnby Hill resulting in the loss of the entire crew
Warrant Officer Second Class Frank Goheen Nelson (RCAF)(USA), Sergeant McKeen Allan (RCAF), Sergeant George Francis Done (RAFVR), Sergeant Alan Arthur Frederick Williams (RAFVR), Sergeant Henry Summers Jones (RAFVR), Sergeant Arthur William Butcher (RAFVR) and Sergeant Walter George Murton (RAFVR)(South Africa) were all killed in action
The crew were all buried in cemeteries in the United Kingdom
Bombers First and Last by Gordon Thorburn, pages 118, 376-7
Lancaster ED481 Royal Air Force serial and Image database
Lancaster Mk1 ED481 Hawnby Hill Hawnby - Peak District Air Accident...
1943-January-31 KIA RCAF Sergeant McKeen Allan 2025-06-24 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Arthur William Butcher 2025-06-24 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant George Francis Done 2025-06-24 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Henry Summers Jones 2025-06-24 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Walter George Murton 2025-06-24 1943-January-31 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 Frank Goheen Nelson 2025-07-28 1943-January-31 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Allan Arthur Frederick Williams 2025-06-24 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED482
s/n ED482
m/d 683
Avro
ED 482
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED483
s/n ED483
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 483
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED484
s/n ED484
m/d 683
Avro
ED 484
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Lorient 13/14 Feb 1943. 39 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED485
s/n ED485
m/d 683
Avro
ED 485
Merlin
Known Units: 156
Built as Mk. III, converted to Mk. I at No. 156 Sqn. Missing on mission to Wilhelmshaven 19/20 Feb 1943. 53 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Wilhelmshaven Germany 1943-02-19 to 1943-02-19
156 (PFF) Sqn (RAF) RAF Warboys
156 Squadron (We Light The Way), Pathfinder Force, RAF Warboys. Lancaster BII aircraft ED 485 was lost without a trace during an operation over the naval yards at Wlihelmshaven, Germany. The Lancaster may have been shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Paul Gildner of the Stab IV/NJG-1, crashing into the North Sea, North of Vlieland, Friesland, Netherlands with the loss of the entire crew
Pilot Officer H W Welch (RCAF), Pilot Officer T E Case (RCAF), Pilot Officer P Y C Tremblay (RCAF), Pilot Officer E Cuthbert (RNZAF), Pilot Officer H A McLennan DFM (RAAF), Sergeant E P G Bayliss (RAFVR) and Sergeant J W Denby (RAFVR) were all missing, presumed killed in action
The missing have no known graves and all are commemorate d on the Runnymede Memorial
Several of the crew members of Lancaster ED 245 had been involved in the crash of 156 Squadron Wellington III aircraft X3811, which encountered icing conditions and was abandoned over England after a fire started
Flight Sergeant T E Case (RCAF) and Flight Sergeant H W Welch (RCAF) were slightly injured, Flight Sergeant P Y C Tremblay (RCAF), Sergeant H A McLennan (RAAF) and Sergeant E Cuthbert (RNZAF) survived, safe. However, the Wellington crashed into the village of Somersham, Huntingdon, England, where it destroyed several houses on High Street and killed 11 people on the ground: Pauline Margaret Cattanach, Vera Cattanach, Juliana Davies, Annie Maria Holdich, Alice Lamb, William Francis Lamb, Violet Ewing Moule, Eliza Nightingale, Elizabeth Richardson, Ena Joyce Stroud and Elsie May Taylor
Several of the crew members of Lancaster ED 245 had previously been involved in the crash of 156 Squadron Wellington III aircraft X3811, which encountered icing conditions and was abandoned over England
Flight Sergeant T E Case (RCAF) and Flight Sergeant H W Welch (RCAF) were slightly injured, Flight Sergeant P Y C Tremblay (RCAF), Sergeant H A McLennan (RAAF) and Sergeant E Cuthbert (RNZAF) survived, safe. However, the Wellington crashed into the village of Somersham, Huntingdon, England, where it destroyed several houses on High Street and killed 11 people on the ground: Pauline Margaret Cattanach, Vera Cattanach, Juliana Davies, Annie Maria Holdich, Alice Lamb, William Francis Lamb, Violet Ewing Moule, Eliza Nightingale, Elizabeth Richardson, Ena Joyce Stroud and Elsie May Taylor
Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
Crash of an Avro 683 Lancaster I off Vlielandin: 7 killed I Bureau of...
1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Edward Percy George Bayliss 2023-11-04 1943-February-19 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Thomas Edward Case 2024-01-16
1943-February-19 KIA RNZAF Pilot Officer Elias Cuthbert 2023-11-27 1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Sergeant John William Denby 2024-10-12 1943-February-19 KIA RAAF Pilot Officer Hugh Alexander McLennan DFM 2023-11-27 1943-February-19 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Pierre Yves Camille Tremblay 2023-11-04 1943-February-19 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Harry William Welch 2023-11-27 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED486
s/n ED486
m/d 683
Avro
ED 486
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn Jan 1943. Aircraft crashed soon after take-off en route to Dusseldorf 27 Jan 1943. Aircraft had flown 14 hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED487
s/n ED487
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 487
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-D) 14 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 16/17 Jun 1943. 261 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
1943-June-17 PoW RAFVR Sergeant John Anthony Aldersley 2024-11-01 1943-June-17 KIA RAF Sergeant Patrick Hall 2023-08-26 1943-June-17 PoW RAFVR Sergeant Harold Popplestone 2025-03-10 1943-June-17 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Herbert Francis Poynter 2023-08-27 1943-June-17 PoW RAFVR Sergeant Charles James Sinclair 2022-03-03 1943-June-17 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant David Gerald Tremblay 2023-11-09 1943-June-17 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Denis Webster 2023-08-27 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED488
s/n ED488
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 488
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn (VN-N) 12 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 2/3 Feb 1943. 18 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED489
s/n ED489
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 489
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED490
s/n ED490
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 490
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED491
s/n ED491
m/d 683
Avro
ED 491
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED492
s/n ED492
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 492
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Wilhelmshaven Germany 1943-02-18 to 1943-02-19
9 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Waddington
9 Squadron (Per noctum volamus) RAF Waddington. Lancaster III aircraft ED 492 WS-W was reported as involved in a mid-air collision with another Lancaster near the target area of Wilhelmshaven, Germany by there is also a claim from heavy flak battery Marine Flak Abt 282 at Hooksiel, Germany. The Lancaster crashed at Schreiersort, near Wangerland, Germany with the loss of four aircrew members killed
Flight Sergeant Ernest John Walter Davis (RAFVR), Sergeant James Storey Aird (RAFVR), Sergeant Alfred Thomas Berwick (RAFVR) and Sergeant Ralph William Darlington (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Sergeant Howard Wallace Fullard (RCAF), Warrant Officer James Vaughan (RAFVR) and Warrant Officer John Arthur Jones-Ford (RAFVR) all survived to become Prisoners of War
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part One - 1 January - 22 June by Theo Boiten, page 29
Bombers First and Last by Gordon Thorburn, page 377
1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Sergeant James Storey Aird 2024-12-04 1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Thomas Alfred Berwick 2024-12-04 1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Ralph William Darlington 2024-12-04 1943-February-19 KIA RAFVR Flight Sergeant Ernest John Walter Davis 2024-12-21 1943-February-19 PoW Early Release RCAF Flight Sergeant Howard Wallace Fullard 2025-01-16 1943-February-19 PoW RAFVR Warrant Officer John Arthur Jones-Ford 2024-12-21 1943-February-19 PoW RAFVR Warrant Officer James Vaughan 2024-12-04 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED493
s/n ED493
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 493
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED494
s/n ED494
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 494
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED495
s/n ED495
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 495
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED496
s/n ED496
m/d 683
Avro
ED 496
Merlin
Known Units: ;9
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED497
s/n ED497
m/d 683
Avro
ED 497
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED498
s/n ED498
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 498
Merlin
Known Units: 207
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED499
s/n ED499
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 499
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-X) 21 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Hanover 18/19 Oct 1943. 442 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
1943-October-18 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Stanley George Barlegs 2024-11-09 1943-October-18 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Norman Beer 2024-11-10 1943-October-18 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Howard James Gould 2024-12-18 1943-October-18 KIA RAFVR Flight Sergeant John William Grain 2024-12-18 1943-October-18 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Oswald William Douglas Hodges 2024-12-18 1943-October-18 KIA RAFVR Flying Officer Stanley David Smith 2024-12-18 1943-October-18 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Leon Abraham Titof 2024-12-18 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED500
s/n ED500
m/d 683
Avro
ED 500
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED501
s/n ED501
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 501
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED502
s/n ED502
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 502
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED503
s/n ED503
m/d 683
Avro
ED 503
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED504
s/n ED504
m/d 683
Avro
ED 504
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED520
s/n ED520
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 520
Merlin
Known Units: 9
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED521
s/n ED521
m/d 683
Avro
ED 521
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED522
s/n ED522
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 522
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED523
s/n ED523
m/d 683
Avro
ED 523
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED524
s/n ED524
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 524
Merlin
Known Units: 467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Essen Germany 1943-04-03 to 1943-04-03
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 524 was shot down at Dusseldorf, Germany. Six RAF members of the crew, F/0.s T. Dring, H. North, J. Stewart, Sgt.s W.Johnson, D.J. Robinson, L.T. Fulcher, and S/L. A. Paape were also killed.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED525
s/n ED525
m/d 683
Avro
ED 525
Merlin
Known Units: ;467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Wilhelmshaven Germany 1943-02-19 to 1943-02-19
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesofrd, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 535 failed to return from an attack against Wilhelmshaven, Germany. F/0, W.K. Komaiko, and five RAF members of the crew, Sgt.s R. Bailey, R. King, G. McLoughlin, J. Turner, and F/L. J. Michie were also killed.Bombing Wilhelmshaven Germany 1943-02-19 to 1943-02-20
467 () () RAF Bottesford, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 525 failed to return from an attack against Wilhelmshaven, Germany. RCAF F/0 W.K. Komaiko and Flt Sergeant H.L. Brown, and five RAF members of the crew, Sgt.s R. Bailey, R. King, G. McLoughlin, J. Turner, and F/L. J. Michie were killed.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED526
s/n ED526
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 526
Merlin
Known Units: 467
To No. 467 Sqn 23 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Nuremburg 25/25 Feb 1943. 40 Operational hourslast update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Nuremberg Germany 1943-02-25 to 1943-02-25
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, England
467 Squadron RAAF (Recidite adversarius atque ferocitea) RAF Bottesford. Lancaster BIII ED 526 PO-J was shot down by flak during an operation against targets in Nuremburg, Germany. The Lancaster crashed near Weisendorf, Bayern, Germany with the loss of the entire crew
Warrant Officer 2nd Class J L B Larin (RCAF), Warrant Officer 2nd Class R S Woolley (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant O G Rowcroft (RAAF), Warrant Officer M P Stewart (RAAF), Sergeant E O'Kane (RAFVR), Sergeant R Wiggins (RAFVR) and Sergeant R M Wylie (RAFVR) were all killed in action
1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Joseph Louis Bernard Larin 2024-06-05 1943-February-25 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Edward O'Kane 2023-11-27 1943-February-25 KIA RAAF Flight Lieutenant Oscar Gladwin Rowcroft 2025-07-24 1943-February-25 KIA RAAF Warrant Officer Maxwell Phillip Stewart 2023-11-27 1943-February-25 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Richard Wiggins 2023-11-27 1943-February-25 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Robert Stanley Woolley 2024-07-12 1943-February-25 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Robert McKenzie Wylie 2023-11-27 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED527
s/n ED527
m/d 683
Avro
ED 527
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn 26 Jan 1943. Crashed on first operation in French Morocco following a raid on Turin 4/5 Feb 1943. 5 operational hours. Last heard of at 2305 transmitting 'Making forced landing in position 3610N 0520W.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Turin Italy 1943-02-05 to 1943-02-05
(B) Sqn (RAF) Skellingthorpe
188 aircraft - 77 Lancasters - 55 Halifaxes - 50 Stirlings - 6 Wellingtons - 3 Lancasters lost.
156 aircraft reached and bombed Turinn, causing serious and widespread damage. The brief local report states that 29 people were killed and 53 injured. source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
50 Squadron (From Defence To Attack). Target - Turin, Italy. Lancaster aircraft ED 527 crashed north-east of Fez, near Ajnoul at Taza, French Morocco.Warrant Officer L.A. Cumming, Sergeant M.S. Napier and four of the crew, not Canadians, were also killed 1943-February-05 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Gerald Macness Bown 2024-11-16 1943-February-05 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer Leonard Allan Cumming 2025-02-15 1943-February-05 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Nelson Earl Holness 2024-02-25 1943-February-05 KIA RNZAF Flying Officer Keith Campbell Johanson 2024-02-25 1943-February-05 KIA RAFVR Sergeant David Livingston 2024-02-25 1943-February-05 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Matthew Simpson Napier 2025-02-15 1943-February-05 KIA RAFVR Sergeant George Robinson 2024-02-25 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED528
s/n ED528
m/d 683
Avro
ED 528
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED529
s/n ED529
m/d 683
Avro
ED 529
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED530
s/n ED530
m/d 683
Avro
ED 530
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED531
s/n ED531
m/d 683
Avro
ED 531
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED532
s/n ED532
m/d 683
Avro
ED 532
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED533
s/n ED533
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 533
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED534
s/n ED534
m/d 683
Avro
ED 534
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED535
s/n ED535
m/d 683
Avro
ED 535
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED536
s/n ED536
m/d 683
Avro
ED 536
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED537
s/n ED537
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 537
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED538
s/n ED538
m/d 683
Avro
ED 538
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED539
s/n ED539
m/d 683
Avro
ED 539
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED540
s/n ED540
m/d 683
Avro
ED 540
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED541
s/n ED541
m/d 683
Avro
ED 541
Merlin
Known Units: 467
Delivered to No. 467 (Audtralian) Sqn 26 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 3/4 Sep 1943. 383 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-09-04 to 1943-09-04
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 541 was shot down near Doberitz, Germany whilst engaged in night operations over Berlin, Germany. RCAF FS's. C.M. Niven and R. Lesser, and non-Canadians Sgt.s O.H. Hodges (RAF), L.A. Saunders, (RAAF), F/L. R. Carmichael (RAAF), F/0.s P.E. Henley (RAF), and R.T.J. Bilney (RAF), were killed.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED542
s/n ED542
m/d 683
Avro
ED 542
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED543
s/n ED543
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 543
Merlin
Known Units: 467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Pilsen Czechoslovakia 1943-05-13 to 1943-05-14
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) Bottesford UK
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster aircraft ED 543 missing, presumed over target, presumed enemy action. Sergeants W.G. Berry (RAF), H.W. Cox (RAF), B.G. Hickling (RAF), M.B. Squires (RAF), and Flying Officer E.F. Heard (RAF) were also killed. One other member of the crew, not Canadian, missing believed killed.
addendum 2: See page 292. The target was Pilsen, Germany and the other member of the crew to be killed WU P/O. K. Mahoney (RAAF).
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED544
s/n ED544
m/d 683
Avro
ED 544
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED545
s/n ED545
m/d 683
Avro
ED 545
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED546
s/n ED546
m/d 683
Avro
ED 546
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED547
s/n ED547
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 547
Merlin
Known Units: 467
Delivered to No. 467 Sqn 28 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 29/30 Dec 1943. 511 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-12-30 to 1943-12-30
467 () ()
Delivered to 467 Australia Squadron 28 Jan 1943. Lancaster aircraft ED 547 crashed five miles south-east of the target Berlin, Germany during night operations. Killed were RCAF Flt. Sgt. F.A. Spencer; five RAF members of the crew, F/0. F. Allen, Sgt. S. Allom, D. Wetherell, R. Yale, R. Evans; and P/O. B. Tait (RAAF).Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED548
s/n ED548
m/d 683
Avro
ED 548
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn;12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED549
s/n ED549
m/d 683
Avro
ED 549
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED550
s/n ED550
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 550
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED551
s/n ED551
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 551
Merlin
Known Units: 9
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED552
s/n ED552
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 552
Merlin
Known Units: 101 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED553
s/n ED553
m/d 683
Avro
ED 553
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED554
s/n ED554
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 554
Merlin
Known Units: 207
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED555
s/n ED555
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 555
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn 29 Jan 1943. Missing on operation to Leipzig 20/21 Oct 1943. 367 operational hours. At different times, the aircraft was coded HW-A and HW-E.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED556
s/n ED556
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 556
Merlin
Known Units: 100;9
Started with No. 100 Sqn (HW-B), transferred to No. 9 Sqn, then returned to No. 100 Sqn with same code letter. Missing on operation to Krefeld 21/22 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED557
s/n ED557
m/d 683
Avro
ED 557
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED558
s/n ED558
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 558
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-N) 5 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Bochum 12/13 Jun 1943. 272 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED559
s/n ED559
m/d 683
Avro
ED 559
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED560
s/n ED560
m/d 683
Avro
ED 560
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED561
s/n ED561
m/d 683
Avro
ED 561
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED562
s/n ED562
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 562
Merlin
Known Units: 550 Sqn;100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED563
s/n ED563
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 563
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-G) Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Pilzen 16/17 Apr 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED564
s/n ED564
m/d 683
Avro
ED 564
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED565
s/n ED565
m/d 683
Avro
ED 565
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED566
s/n ED566
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 566
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-P) 6 Feb 1943. Later re-coded WS-J. Missing on operation to Duisburg 9/10 Apr 1943. 85 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED567
s/n ED567
m/d 683
Avro
ED 567
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED568
s/n ED568
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 568
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-T) 4 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Duisburg 8/9 Apr 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED569
s/n ED569
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 569
Merlin
Known Units: 207
Delivered to No. 207 Sqn (EM-B) 20 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 28/29 Jun 1943. 219 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED583
s/n ED583
m/d 683
Avro
ED 583
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED584
s/n ED584
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 584
Merlin
Known Units: 49 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED585
s/n ED585
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 585
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED586
s/n ED586
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 586
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED587
s/n ED587
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 587
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED588
s/n ED588
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 588
Merlin
Known Units: 97;50;9
The crew of Lancaster aircraft ED 588 were engaged in a night bomb attack against Konigsberg, Germany when they crashed at Vittsjo, Sweden and the bomb load exploded. Sergeants R.W. Bysouth (RAF), W.R. Campbell (RAF), R.H. Clifford (RAF), F.G. Plowman (RAF), Flying Officer A.H. Carver (RAF), and one other member of the crew, not Canadian, were also killed.
There is a Claim by Maj Werner Husemann Stab I/NJG3 -East of Halsingborg (LG - LH): 3,300m at 00:48. in the (Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 Part 4 - Theo Boiten), Not verified. (Source John Jones UK)
last update: 2025-August-02Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED589
s/n ED589
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 589
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED590
s/n ED590
m/d 683
Avro
ED 590
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED591
s/n ED591
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 591
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn;1654 HCU
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED592
s/n ED592
m/d 683
Avro
ED 592
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED593
s/n ED593
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 593
Merlin
Known Units: 5 LFS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED594
s/n ED594
m/d 683
Avro
ED 594
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED595
s/n ED595
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 595
Merlin
Known Units: 7
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED596
s/n ED596
m/d 683
Avro
ED 596
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED597
s/n ED597
m/d 683
Avro
ED 597
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED598
s/n ED598
m/d 683
Avro
ED 598
Merlin
Known Units: 156
With A.V. Roe & CO. at Ringway Feb 1943. Then to Signals Intelligence Unit April 1943 for trials with H2S radar equipment. To No. 156 Sqn (PFF) May 1943. Missing on operation to Hamburg 29/30 Jul 1943. This was on the 3rd night of the "Battle of Hamburg". The aircraft was 8th shot down by fighter attack on that night. Crew were on 14th op, some on second tour.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED599
s/n ED599
m/d 683
Avro
ED 599
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED600
s/n ED600
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 600
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED601
s/n ED601
m/d 683
Avro
ED 601
Merlin
Known Units: 207
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED602
s/n ED602
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 602
Merlin
Known Units: 467;83;49;619
At Ringway Feb 1943. Moved to No. 467 (Australian) Sqn, then to No. No. 83 Sqn (OL-F), then to No. 49 Sqn and then No. 619 Sqn. Missing on operation to Karlsruhe 26/27 Sep 1944.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED603
s/n ED603
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 603
Merlin
Known Units: 83
Aircraft crashed in the IJsselmeer on return, after being shot by Bf110. 4 bodies recovered, and buried. A.B. Smart, R.E. Moore and C.F.J. Sprack never found. Aircraft located and excavated in June 2023. The work was sponsored by the Dutch National Recovery Program. Human remains were found, and painstaking work was done to confirm the details and identities of those recovered. DNA testing proved the three airman died in the accident, and were still in the crashed aircraft. Artifacts recovered. In November 2023, the Dutch defence ministry confirmed that they had found two cigarette cases, inscribed with the initials of Pilot Officer Smart and Pilot Officer Moore and that the remains of each of the three missing men had been idenitified, allowing them to have a proper burial, 80 years after they perished. Memorial headstone erected at.
last update: 2025-August-03
Bombing Bochum Germany 1943-06-12 to 1943-06-13
83 (PFF) Sqn (RAF) RAF Wyton
p>83 Squadron (Strike To Defend), Pathfinder Force, RAF Wyton. Lancaster III aircraft ED 603 OL-L was lost on an operation against targets in Bochum, Germany. Struck initially by flak over the target, the bomber was attacked and shot down by night fighter pilot Hauptmann Rudolph Sigmund of 10/NJG1 while attempting to return to the UK. The Lancaster crashed in flames into Lake IJsselmeer in the Netherlands with the loss of the entire crewPilot Officer Arthur Gordon Fletcher (RCAF), Pilot Officer Harold Elvin Howsam (RAFVR), Pilot Officer Charles Frederick John Sprack DFM (RAF), Flight Lieutenant Eric Arthur Tilbury (RAFVR), Pilot Officer Raymond Edward Moore RFM (RAF), Pilot Officer Arthur Bertram Smart DFM (RAF) and Flying Officer Gordon Robert Sugar (RAF) were all killed. in action
The bodies of Pilot Officer Fletcher, Flight Lieutenant Tilbury, Pilot Officer Howsam and Flying Officer Sugar were recovered over the two weeks following the crash and were buried in cemeteries in the Netherlands but the remaining three crew members were missing with no known grave. The wreckage of Lancaster ED 603 was discovered on the lake bottom in 1996 and excavated by the Dutch government in September 2023. The excavations led to the discovery of personal items and human remains identified as the three missing air crew, Pilot Officer Smart, Flight Sergeant Moore and Pilot Officer Sprack were recovered and buried in the Netherlands
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part 1 1 January - 22 June by Theo Boiten, page 120 Lancaster ED603 Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
12/13 06 1943 83 Squadron Lancaster III ED306 Fg Off Eric A Tilbury RAF...
Geborgen Verleden - De laatste vlucht van Lancaster ED603
h2g2 - ED603: Recovered Memory Part III
Guy Martin's Lost WW2 Bomber: The FULL Documentary I Guy Martin...
1943-June-13 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Arthur Gordon Fletcher 2025-07-27 1943-June-13 KIA RAFVR Pilot Officer Harold Elvin Howsam 2025-07-26 1943-June-13 KIA RAF Pilot Officer Raymond Edward Moore DFM 2025-07-26 1943-June-13 KIA RAFVR Pilot Officer Arthur Bertram Smart DFM 2025-07-26 1943-June-13 KIA RAF Pilot Officer Charles Frederick John Sprack DFM 2025-07-27 1943-June-13 KIA RAF Flying Officer Gordon Robert Sugar 2025-07-27 1943-June-13 KIA RAFVR Flight Lieutenant Eric Arthur Tilbury 2025-07-26 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED604
s/n ED604
m/d 683
Avro
ED 604
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED605
s/n ED605
m/d 683
Avro
ED 605
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED606
s/n ED606
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 606
Merlin
Known Units: 467 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED607
s/n ED607
m/d 683
Avro
ED 607
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED608
s/n ED608
m/d 683
Avro
ED 608
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED609
s/n ED609
m/d 683
Avro
ED 609
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED610
s/n ED610
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 610
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED611
s/n ED611
m/d 683
Avro
ED 611
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED612
s/n ED612
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 612
Merlin
Known Units: 103
Delivered to No. 103 Sqn 11 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Oberhausen, Germany, 14/15 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED613
s/n ED613
m/d 683
Avro
ED 613
Merlin
Known Units: 61
Delivered to No. 61 Sqn from No. 32 MU Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Essen 25/26 Jul 1943.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED614
s/n ED614
m/d 683
Avro
ED 614
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED615
s/n ED615
m/d 683
Avro
ED 615
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED616
s/n ED616
m/d 683
Avro
ED 616
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED617
s/n ED617
m/d 683
Avro
ED 617
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED618
s/n ED618
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 618
Merlin
Known Units: 101
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn from No. 5 MU 23 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Duisburg 9/10 Apr 1943, 19 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Bombing Duisburg Germany 1943-04-09 to 1943-04-10
101 () Sqn (RAF)
101 Squadron (Mens Agitat Molem). Lancaster aircraft ED 618 missing over enemy-held territory during night operations. FSs S. Grundy D.F.M. (RAF), M.J. Bennett (RAF), Sergeants J. Hence (RAF), D. Gould (RAF), and W.D. O'Brien (RAF), and Flying Officer N.J. Ritchie (RAAF) were also killed.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED619
s/n ED619
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 619
Merlin
Known Units: 622 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED620
s/n ED620
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 620
Merlin
Known Units: 49 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED621
s/n ED621
m/d 683
Avro
ED 621
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED622
s/n ED622
m/d 683
Avro
ED 622
Merlin
Known Units: 156
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED623
s/n ED623
m/d 683
Avro
ED 623
Merlin
Known Units: 626 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED624
s/n ED624
m/d 683
Avro
ED 624
Merlin
Known Units: 1660HCU;622
Was with No. 1660 Conversion Unit from Apr to Dec 1943, then to No. 622 Sqn. Missing on operation to Berlin 27/28 Jan 1944. 623 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-02
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED625
s/n ED625
m/d 683
Avro
ED 625
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED626
s/n ED626
m/d 683
Avro
ED 626
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED627
s/n ED627
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 627
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED628
s/n ED628
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 628
Merlin
Known Units: 15 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED629
s/n ED629
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 629
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED630
s/n ED630
m/d 683
Avro
ED 630
Merlin
Known Units: 61 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED631
s/n ED631
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 631
Merlin
Known Units: 115 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED645
s/n ED645
m/d 683
Avro
ED 645
Merlin
Known Units: 103
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED646
s/n ED646
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 646
Merlin
Known Units: 103
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED647
s/n ED647
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 647
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED648
s/n ED648
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 648
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED649
s/n ED649
m/d 683
Avro
ED 649
Merlin
Known Units: 106
Delivered to No. 106 Sqn 22 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Oberhausen 14/15 Jun 1943. 217 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED650
s/n ED650
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 650
Merlin
Known Units: 101
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn (SR-L) 20 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Krefeld 21/22 Jun 1943. 172 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED651
s/n ED651
m/d 683
Avro
ED 651
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED652
s/n ED652
m/d 683
Avro
ED 652
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED653
s/n ED653
m/d 683
Avro
ED 653
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED654
s/n ED654
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 654
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED655
s/n ED655
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 655
Merlin
Known Units: 57 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED656
s/n ED656
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 656
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED657
s/n ED657
m/d 683
Avro
ED 657
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED658
s/n ED658
m/d 683
Avro
ED 658
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED659
s/n ED659
m/d 683
Avro
ED 659
Merlin
Known Units: 101
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED660
s/n ED660
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 660
Merlin
Known Units: 101
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn (SR-V) from 32 MU. Recoded SR-Ubar. Missing 23 May 1943 on mission to Dusseldorf 25/26 May 1943. 85 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED661
s/n ED661
m/d 683
Avro
ED 661
Merlin
Known Units: 61
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED662
s/n ED662
m/d 683
Avro
ED 662
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED663
s/n ED663
m/d 683
Avro
ED 663
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED664
s/n ED664
m/d 683
Avro
ED 664
Merlin
Known Units: 460 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED665
s/n ED665
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 665
Merlin
Known Units: 44
Delivered to No. 44 Sqn (KM-L) from No. 5 MU 20 Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 31 Aug/1 Sep 1943. 172 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED666
s/n ED666
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 666
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED667
s/n ED667
m/d 683
Avro
ED 667
Merlin
Known Units: 57
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED668
s/n ED668
m/d 683
Avro
ED 668
Merlin
Known Units: 57
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED688
s/n ED688
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 688
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED689
s/n ED689
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 689
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-K) 12 Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 3/4 Jul 1943. 146 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Cologne Germany 1943-07-03 to 1943-07-04
9 (B) Sqn (RAF) Bardney
Battle of the Ruhr
Lancaster aircraft ED 689 lost during night operations against Cologne, Germany. Flying Officer J.B. Reeves (USA) and W/O G.F. Dohaney were killed. The other six crew, not Canadians, are missing and also believed killed.
1943-July-04 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Alec Frederick Backler 2024-11-06 1943-July-04 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 George Francis Dohaney 2024-11-06 1943-July-04 KIA RAF Sergeant Harold Joseph Hawkridge 2024-12-03 1943-July-04 KIA RAFVR Sergeant John Elwyn Owen 2024-10-23 1943-July-04 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Thomas Geoffrey Porter 2024-10-23 1943-July-04 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Jonah Bruce Reeves 2024-10-23 1943-July-04 KIA RAFVR Flight Lieutenant John Alfred Wakeford DFC 2024-10-23 1943-July-04 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Harry Leonard Wilson 2024-10-23 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED690
s/n ED690
m/d 683
Avro
ED 690
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED691
s/n ED691
m/d 683
Avro
ED 691
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED692
s/n ED692
m/d 683
Avro
ED 692
Merlin
Known Units: 207
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED693
s/n ED693
m/d 683
Avro
ED 693
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn 28 Feb 1943. Missing on operation to Plzen 13/14 Aug 1943. 149 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED694
s/n ED694
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 694
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED695
s/n ED695
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 695
Merlin
Known Units: 467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Dusseldorf Germany 1943-05-26 to 1943-05-26
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire, England
467 Australia Squadron. Target - Dusseldorf, Germany. Lancaster aircraft ED 695 lost whilst engaged in operations over enemy-held territory. RCAF member Flt. Sgt. A.F. Birkbeck and RAF member Pilot Officer K.R. Langhorne were killed. Five of the non-Canadian crew were taken Prisoner of War: Sgt's. R.A. Avann, S.G. Keirs, and W.V. Morris, Pilot Officer P.R. Collins, and Flying Officer R.S. Giddey. Giddy of Gordon, Australia, was the pilot of the aircraft and following is his report of the event. "On this night we had made our way to the target corkscrewing all the way over enemy territory, dropped our bombs then set course for base. Our flight plan called for us to corkscrew out from the target and back to the Dutch coast. When Pilot Officer Collins (Nav.) told us we were over the coast I straightened out and put the nose down into a steep dive thinking we were safe and out of range. It was then the night fighter got us. There was a terrific crash and we were on fire. As we were over the North Sea it would be useless to parachute so I gave orders for ditching and the crew members took their positions. The two gunners, Langhorne and Birkbeck were the only ones not to acknowledge my order which leads me to believe that they must have been killed by the first burst from the night fighter. The smoke and flames obscured the instrument panel and owing to the red glow inside the aircraft I could not distinguish the horizon. I was finally able to see a few houses and realized we had turned back to the Dutch coast. I lifted the nose then flattened out, cut the four engines and as we lost air speed I pulled the control column right back thus stalling the plane and causing it to hit tail first. The initial hit wasn't too bad but the second, when it finally came, was horrific. All five of the crew abandoned the aircraft and took refuge in a barn. We eventually left the area, one at a time, but were captured very soon after. I was free the longest as I didn't get captured until August 8, 1943."Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED696
s/n ED696
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 696
Merlin
Known Units: 9
Delivered to No. 9 Sqn (WS-T) 2 Mar 1943. Missing on mission to Kiel 4/5 April 1943. 47 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED697
s/n ED697
m/d 683
Avro
ED 697
Merlin
Known Units: ;101
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED698
s/n ED698
m/d 683
Avro
ED 698
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED699
s/n ED699
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 699
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED700
s/n ED700
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 700
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED701
s/n ED701
m/d 683
Avro
ED 701
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED702
s/n ED702
m/d 683
Avro
ED 702
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED703
s/n ED703
m/d 683
Avro
ED 703
Merlin
Known Units: 61
Aircraft of No. 61 Squadron. Missing on raid to Munich 9/10 Mar 1943.last update: 2025-August-05
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED704
s/n ED704
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 704
Merlin
Known Units: 1654 HCU;1654 HCU;1654 HCU
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED705
s/n ED705
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 705
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-P, later HW-H and HW-Y) 14 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Hamburg 2/3 Aug 1943. This was the fourth and final raid of the Battle of Hamburg Jul/Aug 1943. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and was the 7th aircraft lost on that night. The crew were on their 18th operation.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED706
s/n ED706
m/d 683
Avro
ED 706
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED707
s/n ED707
m/d 683
Avro
ED 707
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED708
s/n ED708
m/d 683
Avro
ED 708
Merlin
Known Units: 106
Delivered to No. 106 Sqn 9 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Hamburg 27/28 Jul 1943. This was the second raid of the "Battle of Hamburg" Jul/Aug 1943. The aircraft was the 16th or 17th shot down that night , either by Ofw. Kubisch, gunner in Major Lent's Bf 110 of IV/NGJ1 or the Ju 88 of Lt Stock of IV NJG3. The crew were on their 8th operation (Middlebrook).last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED709
s/n ED709
m/d 683
Avro
ED 709
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED710
s/n ED710
m/d 683
Avro
ED 710
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED711
s/n ED711
m/d 683
Avro
ED 711
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED712
s/n ED712
m/d 683
Avro
ED 712
Merlin
Known Units: 50
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn 12 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Wuppertal 24/25 Jun 1943. 117 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED713
s/n ED713
m/d 683
Avro
ED 713
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn;576 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED714
s/n ED714
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 714
Merlin
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED715
s/n ED715
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 715
Merlin
Known Units: 156 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED716
s/n ED716
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 716
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED717
s/n ED717
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 717
Merlin
Known Units: 61 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED718
s/n ED718
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 718
Merlin
Known Units: 61
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED719
s/n ED719
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 719
Merlin
Known Units: 49
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn (EA-K) 12 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Mannheim 9/10 Aug 1943.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED720
s/n ED720
m/d 683
Avro
ED 720
Merlin
Known Units: 106
Delivered to No. 106 Sqn 12 Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 8/9 Jul 1943. 249 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED721
s/n ED721
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 721
Merlin
Known Units: 49;9
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn Mar 1943. Transferred to No. 9 Sqn (WS-S) Oct 1943. Missing on operation to Brunswick 14/15 Jan 1944.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED722
s/n ED722
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 722
Merlin
Known Units: 61 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED723
s/n ED723
m/d 683
Avro
ED 723
Merlin
Known Units: 44
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED724
s/n ED724
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 724
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn;103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED725
s/n ED725
m/d 683
Avro
ED 725
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED726
s/n ED726
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 726
Merlin
Known Units: 49
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED727
s/n ED727
m/d 683
Avro
ED 727
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED728
s/n ED728
m/d 683
Avro
ED 728
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED729
s/n ED729
m/d 683
Avro
ED 729
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED730
s/n ED730
m/d 683
Avro
ED 730
Merlin
Known Units: ;550
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED731
s/n ED731
m/d 683
Avro
ED 731
Merlin
Known Units: 166
Delivered to No. 103 Sqn Mar 1943. Transferred to No. 166 Sqn (AS-T2) in Sept 1943. Lost on mission to Berlin 24/25 Mar 1944. 576 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED732
s/n ED732
m/d 683
Avro
ED 732
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED733
s/n ED733
m/d 683
Avro
ED 733
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED734
s/n ED734
m/d 683
Avro
ED 734
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED735
s/n ED735
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 735
Merlin
Known Units: 44;617
Originally to No. 44 Sqn (KM-K), then to No. 617 Sqn (AJ-R). Took part in the raids on the Antheor Viaduct 16/17 Sep 1943 and 11/12 Nov 1943. Lost on returning to England from Rabat, Morocco 17 Nov 1943. 338 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Ferry Flight In transit to Coningsby 1943-11-17 to 1943-11-18
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Rabat, Morocco
The aircraft, piloted by Flight Lieutenant EEG Youseman DFC, had landed at Blida, Algeria 
, after the raid on the Antheor Viaduct , on the rail line between France and Italy, on the night of 11/12 November. It subsequently moved to Rabat, Morocco before setting off to return to Coningsby, its base in England . It was routed round the Iberian peninsula and across the Bay of Biscay. However, it ditched in the Atlantic with the loss of all of the crew. It is believed that there were 3 army officers on board as well as the crew.
There were 3 Canadians in the crew: Pilot Officers L Plishka and AM Laughiand DFM and Warrant Officer Class 1 JB O'Grady. With the exception of Flight Sergeant R Florence DFM (RNZAF), the remainder of the crew (Flight Lieutenant EEG Youseman DFC Pilot Officer S Whittingham DFM and Flying Officer W Grimes DFM) were in the RAF.
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED736
s/n ED736
m/d 683
Avro
ED 736
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED737
s/n ED737
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 737
Merlin
Known Units: 467
last update: 2025-August-13
Bombing Cologne Germany 1943-06-17 to 1943-06-17
467 () () RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire, England
467 Australia Squadron. Lancaster ED737 took off 2215 16 June 1943 from Bottesford. Shot down by a night-fighter. Casualties included RAF Sgt's. R.L. Godden, K.M. Taylor, N.M. Turnbull, and Flying Officer A. Smith (pilot), and RAAF Flying Officer G.H. Joseph. Sgt. E.V. Doan (RCAF), Flt. Sgt. J.E. Binnie (RAF), and Sgt. E. Lancake (RAF) were taken Prisoners of War.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED749
s/n ED749
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 749
Merlin
Known Units: 300 Sqn;100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED750
s/n ED750
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 750
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED751
s/n ED751
m/d 683
Avro
ED 751
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED752
s/n ED752
m/d 683
Avro
ED 752
Merlin
Known Units: 106
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED753
s/n ED753
m/d 683
Avro
ED 753
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED754
s/n ED754
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 754
Merlin
Known Units: 97
Delivered to No. 97 Sqn (OF-A) Mar 1943. Missing on operation to St Nazaire, 28/29 Mar 1943. 20 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED755
s/n ED755
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 755
Merlin
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED756
s/n ED756
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 756
Merlin
Known Units: 1654 HCU;1654 HCU
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED757
s/n ED757
m/d 683
Avro
ED 757
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED758
s/n ED758
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 758
Merlin
Known Units: 57;630;207
Served with No. 57 Sqn from March 1943 to Sep 1943, then transfer to No. 630 Sqn, finally to No. 207 Sqn (EM-V). Missing from mission to Berlin 30/31 Jan 1944. 452 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED759
s/n ED759
m/d 683
Avro
ED 759
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED760
s/n ED760
m/d 683
Avro
ED 760
Merlin
Known Units: ;100
With No. 100 Sqn. Missing on operation to Frankfurt 10/11 Apr 1943.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED761
s/n ED761
m/d 683
Avro
ED 761
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED762
s/n ED762
m/d 683
Avro
ED 762
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED763
s/n ED763
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 763
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED764
s/n ED764
m/d 683
Avro
ED 764
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED765
s/n ED765
m/d 683
Avro
ED 765
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED766
s/n ED766
m/d 683
Avro
ED 766
Merlin
Known Units: 57
Delivered to No. 57 Sqn 25 Mar 1943, Missing on operation to Frankfurt 10/11 Apr 1943. 41 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
1943-April-11 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Robert George Griffin 2024-05-26 1943-April-11 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class George Russel Holm 2024-05-29 1943-April-11 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 Lawrence Joseph Lalonde 2024-11-01 1943-April-11 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 1st Class John Harold Lemon 2024-06-05 1943-April-11 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Daryl Owen McMahon 2024-06-20 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED767
s/n ED767
m/d 683
Avro
ED 767
Merlin
Known Units: 576 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED768
s/n ED768
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 768
Merlin
Known Units: 467
Delivered to No. 467 (Australian) Sqn Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Dusseldorf 25/26 May 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Dusseldorf Germany 1943-05-26 to 1943-05-26
467 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Bottesford, Lincolnshire, England
467 Australia Squadron. Hit by Flak and crashed 0209 26 May 1943 at _s-Gravenwezel (Antwerpen) 11 km ENE from the centre of Antwerpen where those killed are buried in Schoonselhof Cemetery. Casualties included RAF Sgt's. T. Chalmers and B. Spencer, and RAAF Flt. Sgt. J. M. Parsons. Taken Prisoners of War were RAF Sgt's J.P. Egan, R.A. Hunt, and N.J. Vaulkhard, and RCAF Sgt. J.F. Selman.Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED769
s/n ED769
m/d 683
Avro
ED 769
Merlin
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED770
s/n ED770
m/d 683
Avro
ED 770
Merlin
Known Units: 57
Delivered to No. 57 Sqn Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Pilzen 16/17 Apr 1943. 60 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-05
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED771
s/n ED771
m/d 683
Avro
ED 771
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED772
s/n ED772
m/d 683
Avro
ED 772
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED773
s/n ED773
m/d 683
Avro
ED 773
Merlin
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED774
s/n ED774
m/d 683
Avro
ED 774
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED775
s/n ED775
m/d 683
Avro
ED 775
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED776
s/n ED776
m/d 683
Avro
ED 776
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED777
s/n ED777
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 777
Merlin
Known Units: 57;630
Delivered to No. 57 Sqn (DX-Q) Mar 1943. Transferred to No. 630 Sqn Nov 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 2/3 Dec 1943. 396 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED778
s/n ED778
m/d 683
Avro
ED 778
Merlin
Known Units: 57
Delivered to No. 57 Sqn Mar 1943. Damaged 27 Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Duissburg 12/13 May 1943. 41 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
1943-May-13 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2nd Class Allan Lockwood Home 2021-08-10 1943-May-13 PoW RCAF Flight Sergeant George Brown Leach 2021-04-13 1943-May-13 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Milford Glen Thomas Levins 2021-08-13 1943-May-13 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Hugh Columba MacNeil 2021-08-17 1943-May-13 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer Henry Augustine Sheehan 2021-07-30 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED779
s/n ED779
m/d 683
U
Avro
ED 779
Merlin
Known Units: 57 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED780
s/n ED780
m/d 683
Avro
ED 780
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED781
s/n ED781
m/d 683
Avro
ED 781
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED782
s/n ED782
m/d 683
Avro
ED 782
Merlin
Known Units: 61
Delivered to No. 61 Sqn Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Hamburg 29/30 Jul 1943. 250 operational hours. They were shot down on the third night of the Battle of Hamburg, Jul/Aug 1943 and were 5th aircraft lost that night out of a total of 31 shot down or crashed. The crew were on their 23rd operation (Middlebrook).last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED783
s/n ED783
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 783
Merlin
Known Units: 44
Delivered to No. 44 Sqn (KM-F) Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Essen 30 Apr/1 May 1943. 58 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED784
s/n ED784
m/d 683
Avro
ED 784
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED785
s/n ED785
m/d 683
Avro
ED 785
Merlin
Known Units: 49
With No. 49 Sqn. Missing on mission to Cologne 16/17 Jun 1943last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED786
s/n ED786
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 786
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED799
s/n ED799
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 799
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED800
s/n ED800
m/d 683
Avro
ED 800
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED801
s/n ED801
m/d 683
Avro
ED 801
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED802
s/n ED802
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 802
Merlin
Known Units: 207 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED803
s/n ED803
m/d 683
Avro
ED 803
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED804
s/n ED804
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 804
Merlin
Known Units: 460 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED805
s/n ED805
m/d 683
Avro
ED 805
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED806
s/n ED806
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 806
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED807
s/n ED807
m/d 683
Avro
ED 807
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED808
s/n ED808
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 808
Merlin
Known Units: 622 Sqn;622 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED809
s/n ED809
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 809
Merlin
Known Units: 101;625
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn (SR-W) Mar or Apr 1943. Transferred to No. 625 Sqn (CF-T) Oct 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 26/27 Nov 1943. 318 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED810
s/n ED810
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 810
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED811
s/n ED811
m/d 683
Avro
ED 811
Merlin
Known Units: 1660HCU
Delivered to No. 1660 HCU Mar 1943. Wrecked on its 3rd accident, crashed in poor visibility at Blankney Fen, Lincolnshire 9 Dec 1943. 574 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED812
s/n ED812
m/d 683
Avro
ED 812
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED813
s/n ED813
m/d 683
Avro
ED 813
Merlin
Known Units: 49
Delivered to No. 49 Sqn Mar 1943. Missing on operation to Dortmund 23/24 May 1943. 63 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED814
s/n ED814
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 814
Merlin
Known Units: 625 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED815
s/n ED815
m/d 683
P
Avro
ED 815
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-P) Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Schweinfurt 24/25 Feb 1944. 388 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED816
s/n ED816
m/d 683
Avro
ED 816
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED817
s/n ED817
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 817
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED818
s/n ED818
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 818
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED819
s/n ED819
m/d 683
Avro
ED 819
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED820
s/n ED820
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 820
Merlin
Known Units: 12
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED821
s/n ED821
m/d 683
Avro
ED 821
Merlin
Known Units: 100
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED822
s/n ED822
m/d 683
Avro
ED 822
Merlin
Known Units: 156
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED823
s/n ED823
m/d 683
Avro
ED 823
Merlin
Known Units: ;1661
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED824
s/n ED824
m/d 683
Avro
ED 824
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED825
s/n ED825
m/d 683
E
Avro
ED 825
Merlin
Known Units: 617
As ED 825/G Special Provisioning Lancaster the aircraft was at A&AEE for testing before being flown to Scampton as the spare aircraft on No. 617 Sqn. As AJ-T it was flown on the Dams raid (Operation Chastise) by Flight Lieutenant J. McCarthy to attack the Sorpe dam. Later, Later, modified back to a standard configuration, as AJ-E it flew operations against the Antheor Viaduct, Italy.11/12 Nov 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
SOE SOE operation 1943-12-10 to 1943-12-11
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Tempsford
This was one of four aircraft and crews seconded to the Special Operations Executive to work with 138 and 161 Squadrons flying from Tempsford on supply drops to the French Resistance. Piloted by Flying Officer GH Weeden, they left Tempsford at 20:35 on December 10 for a rendezvous in northern France, but were shot down en route by flak near to Meharicourt . All of the crew were killed.
There were 3 members of the RCAF in the crew: Flying Officer GH Weeden, Flight Sergeant EJ Walters and Warrant Officer 2nd Class R Cummings (Wallters was an American serving in the RCAF). The other members of the crew (Sergeant AW Richardson, Pilot Officer RN Jones, Flight Sergeant RG Howell and Sergeant B Robinson) were all in the RAF.
The aircraft crash site was excavated as part of a UK Channel 5 film about "Johnny" Johnson, who had been the bomb aimer in the aircraft when it attacked the Sorpe Dam.
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED826
s/n ED826
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 826
Merlin
Known Units: 1661HCU;1654HCU;61;15
Crashed in the Wash 13 miles SW of Skegness Lincs following an engine fire.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED827
s/n ED827
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 827
Merlin
Known Units: 57 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED828
s/n ED828
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 828
Merlin
Known Units: 50 Sqn
Delivered to No. 50 Sqn (VN-B) Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Bochum 12/13 Jun 1943. 117 operational hours.last update: 2025-July-30
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED829
s/n ED829
m/d 683
Avro
ED 829
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED830
s/n ED830
m/d 683
Avro
ED 830
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED831
s/n ED831
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 831
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED832
s/n ED832
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 832
Merlin
Known Units: 207
Delivered to 207 Sqn (EM-X) Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 3/4 Sep 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Berlin Germany 1943-09-03 to 1943-09-03
207 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Langar
207 Squadron RAF (Semper Paratus) RAF Langar. Lancaster BIII aircraft ED 832 EM-X failed to return from a raid against targets in Berlin, Germany. Lost without a trace, the cause of loss was not determined
Flight Lieutenant T J D Waterman DFC (RCAF), Flying Officer F G C Spanner DFC (RCAF), Group Captain A F McKenna MiD (RAF), Squadron Leader Ian McArtair Huntly-Wood DFC (RAFVR), Flying Officer K J Knight DFC (RAFVR), Flight Sergeant A J C Whitehead (RAFVR) and Flying Officer J L Young DFM (RAFVR) were all missing, presumed killed in action
The missing have no known grave and all are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
1943-September-03 KIA RAFVR Squadron Leader Ian McArtair Huntly-Wood DFC 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RAFVR Flying Officer Kenneth Joseph Knight DFC 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RAF Group Captain Austin Flower McKenna MiD 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RCAF Flying Officer Frederick Gordon Charles Spanner DFC 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RCAF Flight Lieutenant Thomas John Davies Waterman DFC 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RAFVR Flight Sergeant Arthur John Charles Whitehead 2023-12-09 1943-September-03 KIA RAFVR Flying Officer James Lawson Young DFM 2023-12-09 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED833
s/n ED833
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 833
Merlin
Known Units: 1654 HCU
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED834
s/n ED834
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 834
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED835
s/n ED835
m/d 683
Avro
ED 835
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED836
s/n ED836
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 836
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn;9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED837
s/n ED837
m/d 683
Avro
ED 837
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED838
s/n ED838
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 838
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED839
s/n ED839
m/d 683
Avro
ED 839
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED840
s/n ED840
m/d 683
Avro
ED 840
Merlin
Known Units: 156
Delivered to No. 156 Sqn Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 16/17 Jun 1943. 61 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED841
s/n ED841
m/d 683
Avro
ED 841
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED842
s/n ED842
m/d 683
Avro
ED 842
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED856
s/n ED856
m/d 683
Avro
ED 856
Merlin
Known Units: 156
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED857
s/n ED857
m/d 683
Avro
ED 857
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED858
s/n ED858
m/d 683
Avro
ED 858
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED859
s/n ED859
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 859
Merlin
Known Units: 156;619
Delivered to No. 156 Sqn Apr/May 1943. Transferred to No. 619 Sqn (PG-V) Oct/Nov 1943. Missing on operation to Wesseling 21/22 Jun 1944. This was the aircraft's 71st operation. 630 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED860
s/n ED860
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 860
Merlin
Known Units: 61 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED861
s/n ED861
m/d 683
Avro
ED 861
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED862
s/n ED862
m/d 683
Avro
ED 862
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED863
s/n ED863
m/d 683
Avro
ED 863
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED864
s/n ED864
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 864
Merlin
Known Units: 617
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED 864/G. Tested on 16 April 1943, and delivered to No. 617 Sqn (AJ-B) April 1943. The aircraft had 23 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Moehne Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
The aircraft (AJ-B) was piloted by Flight Lieutenant "Bill" Astell DFC. It crashed (it hit an electricity pylon) close to Marbeck, Germany at 00:15 on 17 May 1944 en route to the Moehne Dam as part of the first wave attack of operation CHASTISE, the attack on the German Dams.
Canadians Pilot Officer FA Wile, Flight Sergeant FA Garbas and Warrant Officer Class2 A Garshowitz, and four RAF members of the crew (Flight Lieutenant W Astell DFC, Sergeants I Kinnear, R Bolitho, and Flying Officer D Hopkinson) were all killed.
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
1943-May-17 KIA RAFVR Flight Lieutenant William Astell DFC 2025-01-27 1943-May-17 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Richard Bolitho 2024-11-14 1943-May-17 KIA RCAF Flight Sergeant Francis Anthony Garbas 2025-01-27 1943-May-17 KIA RCAF Warrant Officer 2 Abram Albert Garshowitz 2025-05-24 1943-May-17 KIA RAFVR Flying Officer Donald Hopkinson 2025-01-27 1943-May-17 KIA RAF Sergeant John Kinnear 2025-01-27 1943-May-17 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Floyd Alvin Wile 2025-01-27 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED865
s/n ED865
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 865
Merlin
Known Units: 617
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED865/G was delivered to 617 Squadron in April 1943 (AJ-S).last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Sorpe Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
Piloted by Pilot Officer LJ Burpee, the aircraft was outbound during Operation CHASTISE, bound for the Sorpe Dam, Germany. It crashed at 01:53 on May 17 near the night fighter base at Gilze-Rijen, Noord Brabant, the Netherlands . It may have been shot down by light Flak of the 5/gemischte Flak-Abteilung 442 and the 3/leichte Flak-Abteilung 848. Conversely, eye witness accounts suggest that that the pilot was blinded by a searchlight and crashed into trees while trying to avoid it. All the crew were killed
Canadians Pilot Officer LJ Burpee DFM, Warrant Officer JL Arthur and Warrant Officer JG Brady were killed in the crash or the subsequent explosion of their UPKEEP weapon, as were Pilot Officer LG Weller (RAFVR), Sergeants T Jaye (RAFVR), WCA Long (RAFVR) and G Pegler (RAF).
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED866
s/n ED866
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 866
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED867
s/n ED867
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 867
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn;467 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED868
s/n ED868
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 868
Merlin
Known Units: 97
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED869
s/n ED869
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 869
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED870
s/n ED870
m/d 683
I
Avro
ED 870
Merlin
Known Units: 97;50
Originally with No. 97 Sqn (OF-T), transferred to No. 50 Sqn (VN-I) Sep 1943. Missing on operation to Mailly-le-Camp 3/4 May 1944. 538 flying hours, 59 operationslast update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED871
s/n ED871
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 871
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED872
s/n ED872
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 872
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED873
s/n ED873
m/d 683
Avro
ED 873
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED874
s/n ED874
m/d 683
Avro
ED 874
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED875
s/n ED875
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 875
Merlin
Known Units: 97;166
Delivered to 97 Sqn (OF-R) in May 1943. Transferred to No. 166 Sqn Sept 1943. Crashed near Caistor, Lincs on return from operation to Hanover 27/28 Sep 1943last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED876
s/n ED876
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 876
Merlin
Known Units: 83
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED877
s/n ED877
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 877
Merlin
Known Units: ;156
last update: 2025-August-13
156 Squadron Summary ORB 1943-May-05 KIA RNZAF Flight Lieutenant Edward McLeod Gray DFC 2022-08-27 1943-May-05 KIA RCAF Pilot Officer Richard John Lee 2022-08-24 1943-May-05 KIA RNZAF Flight Sergeant Desmond George Ridings 2022-08-25 1943-May-05 KIA RAFVR Flight Sergeant Frederick Martin Venn 2022-08-25 1943-May-05 KIA RAFVR Sergeant Neville Henry Wood 2022-08-25 Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED878
s/n ED878
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 878
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED879
s/n ED879
m/d 683
Avro
ED 879
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED880
s/n ED880
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 880
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED881
s/n ED881
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 881
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED882
s/n ED882
m/d 683
Avro
ED 882
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED883
s/n ED883
m/d 683
V
Avro
ED 883
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED884
s/n ED884
m/d 683
Avro
ED 884
Merlin
Known Units: 103
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED885
s/n ED885
m/d 683
Avro
ED 885
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED886
s/n ED886
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 886
Merlin
Known Units: 617
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED 886/G was delivered to No. 617 Sqn 23 Apr 1943. It was part of the Dam-busting raid of 16/17 May 1943, as AJ-O, piloted by Pilot Officer Bill Townsend. It it believed that they attacked the Bever dam, rather than the Ennepe which was their intended target. The aircraft was modified back to the original standard configuration.last update: 2025-August-04
SOE SOE supply drop 1943-12-10 to 1943-12-11
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Tempsford
This was one of four aircraft and crews seconded from 617 Squadron to the Special Operations Executive to work with 138 and 161 Squadrons flying from Tempsford on supply drops to the French Resistance. Piloted by Warrant Officer GF Bull, they left Tempsford at 21:12 on December 10 for a rendezvous in northern France, but were shot down en route by flak near to at Terramesnil near to Doullens .
There was one Canadian in the crew, Flight Sergeant DM Thorpe. He was killed, along with Sergeant JMcL Stewart, RAF. Four members of the crew, all RAF (Warrant Officer GF Bull, Flight Sergeant Batey, Sergeants CC Wiltshire and CM Chamberlain), bailed out successfully, although injured. The 7th member of the crew, Flight Sergeant JH McWilliams, RAF, successfully evaded capture.
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED887
s/n ED887
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 887
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED887/G, Delivered to 617 Squadron (AJ-A) 17 April 1943.last update: 2025-July-30
Bombing the Moehne Dam 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
The aircraft (AJ-A) was flown by Squadron Leader H Melvin Young, DFC & Bar in the Dams Raid Operation CHASTISE of 16/17 May 1943. The aircraft was the fourth to attack the Moehne Dam , and its UPKEEP bomb was successfully dropped, causing the first breach in the structure. The breach was then enlarged by the UPKEEP of ED906 (AJ-J) captained by Flight LIeutenant DJ Maltby DFC. Young then proceeded to the Eder Dam , where he acted as second in command to Wing Commander Guy Gibson during the attack. After the Eder had been breached by the UPKEEP of Flight Lieutenant LG Knight in ED912 (AJ-N), Young headed for home but the aircraft was shot down into the sea at Castricum-aan Zee, the Netherlands at 02:58 on May 17th. All of the crew perished.
There was one Canadian in the crew, Flying Officer VS MacCausland, All of the others (Squadron Leader Young, Flight Sergeant CW Roberts, and Sergeants LW Nichols, DT Horsfall, GA Yeo and W Ibbotson) were with the RAF.
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED888
s/n ED888
m/d 683
Avro
ED 888
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn;103 Sqn;576 Sqn;576 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED904
s/n ED904
m/d 683
Avro
ED 904
Merlin
Known Units: 166
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED905
s/n ED905
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 905
Merlin
Known Units: 550 Sqn;103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED906
s/n ED906
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 906
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn;617 Sqn; SFS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED907
s/n ED907
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 907
Merlin
Known Units: 83
Delivered to Signals Intelligence Unit Apr 1943 for trials with Mk. III H2S equipment. Then to No. 83 Sqn May 1943. Missing on operation to Cologne 16/17 Jun 1943. 59 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED908
s/n ED908
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 908
Merlin
Known Units: ;SIU;83;NTU;15;582
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED909
s/n ED909
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 909
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn;617 Sqn; SFS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED910
s/n ED910
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 910
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED911
s/n ED911
m/d 683
E
Avro
ED 911
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED912
s/n ED912
m/d 683
N
Avro
ED 912
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED913
s/n ED913
m/d 683
Avro
ED 913
Merlin
Known Units: 576 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED914
s/n ED914
m/d 683
Avro
ED 914
Merlin
Known Units: 103
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED915
s/n ED915
m/d 683
Avro
ED 915
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED916
s/n ED916
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 916
Merlin
Known Units: 103
Delivered to No. 103 Sqn Apr 1943. Missing on operation to Bochum 12/13 Jun 1943. 44 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED917
s/n ED917
m/d 683
Q
Avro
ED 917
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED918
s/n ED918
m/d 683
F
Avro
ED 918
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED919
s/n ED919
m/d 683
Avro
ED 919
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED920
s/n ED920
m/d 683
Avro
ED 920
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED921
s/n ED921
m/d 683
W
Avro
ED 921
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED922
s/n ED922
m/d 683
Avro
ED 922
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED923
s/n ED923
m/d 683
T
Avro
ED 923
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED924
s/n ED924
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 924
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED925
s/n ED925
m/d 683
M
Avro
ED 925
Merlin
Known Units: 617
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED925/G delivered to No. 617 Squadron April 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Moehne Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
The aircraft (AJ-M), piloted by Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood, DFC & Bar, was in the first wave of the attack on the Moehne Dam on the night of 16/17 May 1943. The aircraft was the second to carry out its attack, but was hit by flak as it made its bombing run to drop its Upkeep bomb on the Dam. Hopgood tried to gain height so that the crew could bale out, but only two were successful before the aircraft exploded, at 00:33 on May 17. The aircraft had only been flown for 16 hours.
Flying Officer K Earnshaw (RCAF), Sergeant JW Minchin (RAF), Pilot Officer G Gregory DFM (RAF), and Flight Lieutenant J Hopgood DFC & Bar (RAF) were also killed. P/O. A, Burcher DFM (RAAF) bailed out at near zero feet altitude and was taken Prisoner of War. One Canadian, Pilot Officer JW Fraser, opened his parachute inside the aircraft, was pulled out and was also taken PoW
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED926
s/n ED926
m/d 683
Avro
ED 926
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED927
s/n ED927
m/d 683
E
Avro
ED 927
Merlin
Known Units: 617
Special Provisioning Lancaster ED927/G delivered to 617 Squadron (AJ-E) on 3rd May 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Sorpe Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
The aircraft AJ-E was piloted by Flight Lieutenant Robert Barlow DFC RAAF, it was in the second wave of aircraft in operation CHASTISE. It was on the way to the Sorpe Dam , flying at low level, when it flew into a complex of high-tension cables and crashed at 23:50 near Haldern, Germany . All of the crew perished in the crash, but the self-destruct mechanism on their UPKEEP bomb failed to activate, so that the Germans were presented with the weapon undamaged.
There was one Canadian casualty, Flying Officer HS Glinz. Of the other members of the crew, Flight Lieutenant Barlow and Flying Officer CR Williams DFC were RAAF officers. Pilot Officer SL Whillis, Flying Officer PS Burgess, Pilot Officer A. Gillespie DFM and Sergeant JRG Liddell were RAF personnel.
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED928
s/n ED928
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 928
Merlin
Known Units: 97
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED929
s/n ED929
m/d 683
L
Avro
ED 929
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED930
s/n ED930
m/d 683
Avro
ED 930
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED931
s/n ED931
m/d 683
Avro
ED 931
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED932
s/n ED932
m/d 683
C
Avro
ED 932
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn;617 Sqn;83 Sqn; SFS
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED933
s/n ED933
m/d 683
Avro
ED 933
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED934
s/n ED934
m/d 683
K
Avro
ED 934
Merlin
Known Units: 617
ED 934/G Special Provisioning Lancaster modified Mk. III to take the Upkeep bouncing bomb for the attack on the German Dams 16/17 May 1943. The aircraft was tested on 29 April 1943 and delivered to No. 617 Sqn 3 May 1943 (AJ-K).last update: 2025-August-04
Bombing Sorpe Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 (B) Sqn (RAF) Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
The aircraft (AJ-K), piloted by Pilot Officer Vernon Byers was assigned to the second wave of Lancasters in operation CHASTISE, to attack the Sorpe Dam . It was shot down while crossing Texel, in the Friesian Islands , at 22:57 on May 16 en route to the target, with the loss of all crew.
Canadians in the crew were Pilot Officer VW Byers and Flight Sergeant J McDowell. Five RAF members of the crew, Sergeants A Taylor, J Wilkinson, C Jarvie, Flying Officer J Warner, and Pilot Officer A Whitaker were also killed.
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED935
s/n ED935
m/d 683
Avro
ED 935
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED936
s/n ED936
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 936
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED937
s/n ED937
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 937
Merlin
Known Units: 617 Sqn
.ED 937/G Special Provisioning Lancaster. Specially modified to carry the Upkeep "bouncing bomb", it was delivered from No. 39 MU to No. 617 Sqn (AJ-Z) on14 May 1943.last update: 2025-July-30
Bombing Eder Dam Germany 1943-05-16 to 1943-05-17
617 () () Scampton
Operation Chastise (Dam Buster)
This aircraft (AJ-Z, piloted by Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay DFC) was in the first wave of the squadron on operation Chastise (Dam-busting raid), 16/17 May 1943. It is believed to have suffered damage from the explosion of its UPKEEP weapon during the attack on the Eder Dam and was later shot down at 02:36 near Emmerich, Germany on its return journey. All of the crew were killed. The aircraft had flown only 7 hours.
Canadians in the crew were Flying Officer RA Urquhart DFC and Warrant Officer Second Class AP Cottam. Other members of the crew were Squadron Leader H Maudslay, DFC, Sergeants J. Marriott DFM, N Burrows, Pilot Officer MJD Fuller, and Flying Officer W Tytherleigh DFC, all of whom were RAF.
Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians "“ about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers, mainly Soviet "“ were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers.Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor, he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10 long tons (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500 rpm. Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.[7] This weapon was code-named Upkeep.
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster. The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning).
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.[12] Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham, who ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[13] On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.[14] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln.
The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam, upstream from the Ruhr industrial area, with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir, near Uppingham, Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer Vernon Byers (RCAF),[15] Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), Pilot Officer Geoff Rice[16] and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sergeant Bill Townsend, Flt Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF), Pilot Officer Warner Ottley and Pilot Officer Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
source: Wikipedia
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED938
s/n ED938
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 938
Merlin
Known Units: 625 Sqn;97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED939
s/n ED939
m/d 683
Avro
ED 939
Merlin
Known Units: 97
Delivered to No. 97 Sqn 7 May 1943. Missing on operation to Nuremburg 10/11 Aug 1943. 112 flying hourslast update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED940
s/n ED940
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 940
Merlin
Known Units: RWE
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED941
s/n ED941
m/d 683
Avro
ED 941
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED942
s/n ED942
m/d 683
B
Avro
ED 942
Merlin
Known Units: 550 Sqn;103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED943
s/n ED943
m/d 683
Avro
ED 943
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED944
s/n ED944
m/d 683
Z
Avro
ED 944
Merlin
Known Units: 1661 HCU;630 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED945
s/n ED945
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 945
Merlin
Known Units: 103 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED946
s/n ED946
m/d 683
Avro
ED 946
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED947
s/n ED947
m/d 683
Avro
ED 947
Merlin
Known Units: 57
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED948
s/n ED948
m/d 683
Avro
ED 948
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED949
s/n ED949
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 949
Merlin
Known Units: 463 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED950
s/n ED950
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 950
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED951
s/n ED951
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 951
Merlin
Known Units: 625 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED952
s/n ED952
m/d 683
Avro
ED 952
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED953
s/n ED953
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 953
Merlin
Known Units: 97 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster serial ED960
s/n ED960
m/d 683
F
ED 960
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED967
s/n ED967
m/d 683
Avro
ED 967
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED968
s/n ED968
m/d 683
G
Avro
ED 968
Merlin
Known Units: 12
Delivered to No, 12 Sqn (GZ-G) May 1943. Recoded PH-Pbar. The aircraft suffered a structural failure and crashed near Stenigot, Lancashire, 25 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED969
s/n ED969
m/d 683
Avro
ED 969
Merlin
Known Units: 156
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED970
s/n ED970
m/d 683
Avro
ED 970
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED971
s/n ED971
m/d 683
Avro
ED 971
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED972
s/n ED972
m/d 683
R
Avro
ED 972
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED973
s/n ED973
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 973
Merlin
Known Units: 460;100
Originally with No. 460 (Australian) Sqn, later with No. 100 Sqn (HW-D). Missing on operation to Oberhausen 14/15 June 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED974
s/n ED974
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 974
Merlin
Known Units: 83
To Signals Intelligence Unit, then to No. 83 Sqn (OL-Y) May 1943. It had two minor crashes. Missing on operation to Berlin 20/21 Jan 1944. 265 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED975
s/n ED975
m/d 683
Y
Avro
ED 975
Merlin
Known Units: 9 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED976
s/n ED976
m/d 683
S
Avro
ED 976
Merlin
Known Units: 460;100
Delivered to No. 460 Sqn 15 May 1943. Transferred to No. 100 Sqn (HW-S). Missing on operation to Dusseldorf 11/12 Jun 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED977
s/n ED977
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 977
Merlin
Known Units: 619 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED978
s/n ED978
m/d 683
Avro
ED 978
Merlin
Known Units: 619
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED979
s/n ED979
m/d 683
Avro
ED 979
Merlin
Known Units: 619
Delivered to No. 619 Sqn May 1943. Missing on raid to Cologne 28/29 Jun 1943. 71 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED980
s/n ED980
m/d 683
Avro
ED 980
Merlin
Known Units: 619
Delivered to No. 619 Sqn May 1943. Missing on operation to Oberhausen 14/15 Jun 1943. 32 flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED981
s/n ED981
m/d 683
Avro
ED 981
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED982
s/n ED982
m/d 683
D
Avro
ED 982
Merlin
Known Units: 619 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED983
s/n ED983
m/d 683
Avro
ED 983
Merlin
Known Units: 619
To No. 619 Sqn Jun 1943. Took part in 3 of the 4 raids on Hamburg, Jul/Aug 1943. Crashed near Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire in bad weather on returning from operation to Bochum, 30 Sep 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED984
s/n ED984
m/d 683
A
Avro
ED 984
Merlin
Known Units: 83
Delivered to Signals Intelligence Unit, then to No. 83 Sqn May 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 23/24 Aug 1944. 195 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED985
s/n ED985
m/d 683
Avro
ED 985
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED986
s/n ED986
m/d 683
Avro
ED 986
Merlin
Known Units: 460 Sqn;460 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED987
s/n ED987
m/d 683
Avro
ED 987
Merlin
Known Units: 101
Delivered to No. 101 Sqn (AR-Abar) May 1943. Missing on operation to Dusseldorf 11/12 Jun 1943. 31 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED988
s/n ED988
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 988
Merlin
Known Units: 100 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED989
s/n ED989
m/d 683
Avro
ED 989
Merlin
Known Units: ;57
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED990
s/n ED990
m/d 683
Avro
ED 990
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED991
s/n ED991
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 991
Merlin
Known Units: 100
Delivered to No. 100 Sqn (HW-K, later HW-H) May 1943. Missing on operation to Berlin 18/19 Nov 1943. 267 operational hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED992
s/n ED992
m/d 683
O
Avro
ED 992
Merlin
Known Units: 57 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED993
s/n ED993
m/d 683
H
Avro
ED 993
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED994
s/n ED994
m/d 683
Avro
ED 994
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED995
s/n ED995
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 995
Merlin
Known Units: 12
Delivered to No. 12 Sqn (PH-X) May 1943. Missing on operation to Hannover 8/9 Oct 1943.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED996
s/n ED996
m/d 683
J
Avro
ED 996
Merlin
Known Units: 12 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED997
s/n ED997
m/d 683
Avro
ED 997
Merlin
Known Units: 83
Delivered to Signals Intelligence Unit May 1943 for trials with H2S MK. III. Transferred to No. 83 Sqn 4 Jun 1943. Missing on operation to Krefeld 21/22 Jun 1943. 20 Flying hours.last update: 2025-August-04
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED998
s/n ED998
m/d 683
Avro
ED 998
Merlin
Known Units:
last update: 2025-August-13
Lancaster Mk.I/III serial ED999
s/n ED999
m/d 683
X
Avro
ED 999
Merlin
Known Units: 44 Sqn
last update: 2025-August-13