Avro Lancaster Serial Groups Specifications

Bombing Misburg Germany 1945-03-15 to 1945-03-15

405 (PFF) Sqn (RCAF) Gransden Lodge

Bombing Brunswick Germany 1944-05-22 to 1944-05-23

49 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Fiskerton

49 Squadron (Cave Canem) RAF Fiskerton. Lancaster III aircraft NE 125 EA-K was coned by searchlights and shot down by a combination of flak battery 2/Flakschienw Abt 269 (o) Werfer 24 and night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Seeler of 5/JG302 during operations against targets in Brunswick, Germany. The Lancaster crashed in a peat-bog 1km South of Hagen, Germany with the loss of the entire crew

Flying Officer William George Wesley Johnson (RCAF), Flying Officer Frederic Allan Newell Clifton (RAFVR), Flying Officer Francis Edward Sinden (RAFVR), Sergeant Norman Myer Goldberg (RAFVR), Sergeant Ernest George Jones (RAFVR), Pilot Officer Philip Rodney Graves-Hook (RAFVR), and Flight Sergeant George Henry Little (RAFVR) were all killed in action

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 Part 3 12 May - 23 June by Theo Boiten, page 19

Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database

Aviation Safety Network

5f14544e3b3c4f0791fec445_NCA1944P

Combat 1944-09-12 to 1944-09-12

7 (PFF) Sqn (RAF) RAF Oakington

The entire crew was lost, cause of loss not determined

Flight Lieutenant KI Aalborg (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant RJL Banks (RAFVR), Pilot Officer H Easthope (RAFVR), Pilot Officer D Mapleson (RAFVR), Pilot Officer AD Price (RAFVR), Pilot Officer AC Scott (RAFVR) and Flight Lieutenant RV Stoneman (RAFVR) were all killed in action

During the flight to the target, Lancaster NE126 was apparently struck by fire from another unidentified Lancaster and suffered damage to both the starboard mainplane and starboard outer engine, which may have been a factor in it's loss

[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...

No.7 Bomber Squadron RAF in World War II - Tom Docherty - ...

Bombing Brunswick Germany 1944-05-23 to 1944-05-23

(B) Sqn (RAF) East Kirkby

Took off from East Kirkby at 22:23 in Lancaster Mk III (Sqn code: DX-J Bomber Command).

Crashed Dorkwerd, Groningen

225 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes of 1 and 5 Groups. 13 Lancasters lost, 5·5 per cent of the force.

This raid was a failure. The weather forecast had predicted a clear target but the marker aircraft found a complete covering of cloud. There was also interference on the Master Bomber's radio communications. The 5 Group method could not cope with these conditions and most of the bombing fell in the country areas around Brunswick. The city records show only a few bombs and there were no casualties. A reconnaissance aircraft flying through this area an hour later found it completely free of cloud.source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt

This bomber team was downed by a Luftwaffe night-fighter in the night of Monday 22nd / Tuesday 23rd of May 1944, at 00.16 hrs. local time, during an RAF air raid on Braunschweig (Brunswick), in Central North Germany; it was hit by gunfire, given by Uffz. Herbert Meyer + aircrew (of unit 8. / NJG. 1 - started from "˜Fliegerhorst' Leeuwarden), and caught fire immediately and fell down, out of control. Then it exploded soon in mid air - because the crew couldn't drop their bomb load ! - and the remains of the craft and the killed crew came down nearby Dorkwerd village, situated NW of Groningen city, in the Province of Groningen, in the NE part of the Netherlands; only two men survived, of which one fell in a local water, without using his parachute ! (he was badly wounded, had many burns)

This aircraft, equipped with H2S radar (in a "˜bulge' under its fuselage) etc., was in fact brand new (!), was delivered to No. 57 Sqdn. on Tuesday the 16th of May 1944, thus circa 1 week earlier; it had flown only about 7 hours ! The Luftwaffe "˜Flugzeugführer' (= pilot), Uffz. Herbert Meyer, who claimed this "˜victory', was only 20 years old; born on 14 Aug. 1923, at Marienwerder, in today's Kwidzyn town, in Pommeren / Poland. This was his first "˜confirmed kill', and wireless supported by the "˜Jäger Leit Offizier' (JLO) of the coastal radar and air control station "˜Schlei' on Schiermonnik-oog Island, in occupied Holland; this Luftwaffe station "˜shadowed' constandly the RAF bomber with her Würzburg radar, after it was detected first with her long distance Wassermann M radar (range about 300 km.)source: Reearched / collected / compiled by Willem de Jong, Menaam village, Friesland / Netherlands.

Bombing Stettin Germany 1944-08-28 to 1944-08-28

460 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

460 Australia Squadron (Strike And Return). Lancaster NE144 was on an operation against Stettin, Germany, when it was shot down by a German night fighter which shot away the elevator controls and trims, set fire to the H2s and 6000 rounds of ammunition, and disabled part of the electrical equipment and intercom. Pilot Flight Lieutenant K.W. Humpfries ordered the crew to put on parachutes and to try to put out the fire. Next he dropped the bomb load and turned towards base. Upon discovering that the elevator controls were gone, he headed for Sweden, controlling the Lancaster by use of the throttles. Mid-upper gunner Sergeant Dennis Fallon and W/Op Flying Officer Ronald K. Stratford DFM was told to get the badly wounded rear gunner out of his turret. They were losing height all the time and when down to 3000 ft the crew were ordered to take up ditching positions. Fallon and Stratford had got Aviet out of the turret, but refused to leave him in the aft fuselage and choose to stay with him. The ditching at approx. 01:00 hours north of the island of Anholt was successful, but the tail broke off and went down. Humpfries was thrown about 20 metres out in front of the Lancaster and when he swam back, he found Navigator Flying Officer T.B. MacNeill, Bomb Aimer Sergeant G.D. Walsh and Flt. Engr. Sergeant S.R. Wild sitting on the Lancaster with the dinghy out. The three men in the tail had gone down with it.

Casualties included RAFVR Flying Officer R.K. Stratford (DFM)(air gunner), and Sgt's. P.B. Aviet (air gunner) and D. Fallon (air gunner). Taken Prisoners of War were RCAF Flying Officer J.B. MacNeill (navigator); RAAF Flying Officer K.W. Humphries (pilot); and RAF Sgt's. G.D. Walsh (bomb aimer) and S.R. Wild (flight engineer).

Bombing Stuttgart Germany 1944-07-28 to 1944-07-29

550 (B) Sqn (RAF) RAF Stn North Killingholme

Shot Down By A Night Fighter At Ottrott 2 Miles West of Obernai Returning From A Raid on Stuttgart, 4 of the Crew Survived, 1 of Whom Evaded

Pilot Officer Harry Jones died in the crash and Sergeant Idwal Williams (both RAF) died as a result of his parachute jump.

The others landed safely and had to consider their chances of evading capture. Sergeant Don Hunter, Sergeant James Drury and Sergeant Roy Barton (all RAF) were captured quickly and taken in charge of the Feld Gendarmerie and the Luftwaffe. Flight Sergeant Fred Habgood was captured in Niederhaslach which is approximately10 kilometres NNW of the crash site Oliver Clutton-Brock, Footprints ..., however other sources say that he was helped by people of Ottrott who were then denounced and taken to the nearby concentration camp at Natzweiler-Stuthof. Sergeant Fred Habgood was hung at Natzweiler-Stuthof and his body was never found. In a trial held at Wuppertal in 1946, five men were found guilty of the crime, two of whom were executed on the 11th of October.

Habgood's identification bracelet was found in 2018 near the concentration camp site. See the story on Habgood's page.

Habgood Bracelet

Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database

Search for France-Crashes 39-45

28/29.07.1944 550 Squadron Lancaster III NE 164 Fg Off Harry Jones RAF...

Bombing Orleans France 1944-07-04 to 1944-07-05

460 (B) Sqn (RAAF) RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom