Squadron: 460 Sqn (RAAF)
Start Date: 1943-09-04
Completion Date: 1943-09-04
Mission: Bombing
Operation: unspecified
Target City: Berlin Germany
Target Specific:
Base: RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England
Take Off Time: 19:57
Squadron Code: AR Q
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City: Larod, Sweden
Crash Specifics: municipality of Helsingborg, Skåne
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason: fighter
Flak Battery:
Enemy Claim:
War Diary Unavailable
6 Group Unavailable
460 Australia Squadron (Strike And Strike Again). Lancaster W4988 was on a bombing mission to Berlin, Germany, when it was hit by both flak and night fighters. RAAF Flt. Sgt. N.J. Conway (navigator) was killed. Taken Prisoners of War were RAAF Pilot Officer L.G. Greenaway (bomb aimer), RCAF Flt. Sgt. H.K. Ward (rear gunner), and RAAF Sgt. A.J. O'Brien (wireless operator / air gunner). Aviation Safety Network provided a detailed description of the events: "While over Berlin the aircraft was caught by several searchlights and attacked by German night fighters and the port outer engine caught fire but Pilot Flying Officer Francis Archibald Randall RAAF managed to get away and by stopping the engine minimising the fire. Shortly after W4988 was caught in the light of flares dropped by the fighters and once again attacked. This time the starboard outer engine caught fire and a fire started in the fuselage just aft of the mid-upper turret. The burning engine was stopped and the fire died. During the combat the Bomb aimer Pilot Officer Lindsay Grafton Greenaway RAAF had left the Lancaster in parachute over Berlin. With only two good engines Randall asked navigator Flight Sergeant Norman James Conway RAAF for a course to take them across Denmark on the return flight. He then changed his mind and asked for a course for Sweden. When they sighted the east coast of Sjælland and could see the lights in Sweden the fire in the starboard engine started again and Randall ordered the crew to bale [sic] out. The first to leave the Lancaster was Flt. Engr. Sergeant Arthur Hilton Johns, Wop Sergeant Allen John O`Brian RAAF and Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant Harry Knight Ward RCAF. Then navigator Flight Sergeant Conway left. Mid-upper gunner Sergeant Herbert Bell parachute had been laying [sic] in the fuselage and had been damaged by bullets from the nightfighter. Randall told Bell to unpack it to see that it was not too badly damaged. Bell then jumped with the unpacked parachute folded in front of his chest. When the parachute unfolded the lines tangled round his neck and injured him. Randall left the plane as the last person. Conway jumped 5th and is believed to have landed in the sea off Sjælland and to have drowned. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial."
6 Group Unavailable
460 Australia Squadron (Strike And Strike Again). Lancaster W4988 was on a bombing mission to Berlin, Germany, when it was hit by both flak and night fighters. RAAF Flt. Sgt. N.J. Conway (navigator) was killed. Taken Prisoners of War were RAAF Pilot Officer L.G. Greenaway (bomb aimer), RCAF Flt. Sgt. H.K. Ward (rear gunner), and RAAF Sgt. A.J. O'Brien (wireless operator / air gunner). Aviation Safety Network provided a detailed description of the events: "While over Berlin the aircraft was caught by several searchlights and attacked by German night fighters and the port outer engine caught fire but Pilot Flying Officer Francis Archibald Randall RAAF managed to get away and by stopping the engine minimising the fire. Shortly after W4988 was caught in the light of flares dropped by the fighters and once again attacked. This time the starboard outer engine caught fire and a fire started in the fuselage just aft of the mid-upper turret. The burning engine was stopped and the fire died. During the combat the Bomb aimer Pilot Officer Lindsay Grafton Greenaway RAAF had left the Lancaster in parachute over Berlin. With only two good engines Randall asked navigator Flight Sergeant Norman James Conway RAAF for a course to take them across Denmark on the return flight. He then changed his mind and asked for a course for Sweden. When they sighted the east coast of Sjælland and could see the lights in Sweden the fire in the starboard engine started again and Randall ordered the crew to bale [sic] out. The first to leave the Lancaster was Flt. Engr. Sergeant Arthur Hilton Johns, Wop Sergeant Allen John O`Brian RAAF and Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant Harry Knight Ward RCAF. Then navigator Flight Sergeant Conway left. Mid-upper gunner Sergeant Herbert Bell parachute had been laying [sic] in the fuselage and had been damaged by bullets from the nightfighter. Randall told Bell to unpack it to see that it was not too badly damaged. Bell then jumped with the unpacked parachute folded in front of his chest. When the parachute unfolded the lines tangled round his neck and injured him. Randall left the plane as the last person. Conway jumped 5th and is believed to have landed in the sea off Sjælland and to have drowned. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial."
