Lancaster ND343 Mk.III - Bombing Lens France - 1944-06-15 to 1944-06-16
Squadron: 405 (PFF) Sqn (RCAF)
Start Date: 1944-06-15
Completion Date: 1944-06-16
Mission: Bombing
Operation: Battle of Normandy
Target City: Lens France
Target Specific: rail yards
Base: RAF Gransden Lodge
Take Off Time: 23:52:00
Squadron Code: LQ-J
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City: France
Crash Specifics: near Carency, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason: flak
Flak Battery: unspecified
Enemy Claim:
War Diary Unavailable

6 Bomber Group June 15/16, 1944

130 Halifaxes from 420, 424, 425, 426, 427, 429,431, 432, 433, and 434 squadrons were joined by 32 Lancasters from 408,419, and 428 squadrons on an attack of the dock and harbour area of Boulogne.Crews were over the target at between 9,000 and 17,000 feet, releasing1,623,000 lbs of high explosives. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)

405 Vancouver Squadron (Ducimus) Pathfinder Force, RAF Grandsen Lodge. Lancaster III aircraft ND 343 LQ-L was struck by flak and exploded during an operation against rail yards in Lens, France in support of the Normandy Landings. The Lancaster crashed near Carency, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France. The explosion threw the Pilot, Warrant Officer Class 2 Charles John Stewart (RCAF) free of his aircraft. Stewart survived and avoided capture as an Evader.

The remainder of the crew were lost: Flying Officer Arthur Gordon Gamsby (RCAF), Pilot Officer Philip Sanson Greene (RCAF), Pilot Officer Walter Donald Huff (RCAF), Pilot Officer Walter Arthur Morrill (RCAF), Pilot Officer Cyril Edmund Roberts (RCAF) and Pilot Officer Jack Kenneth Vician (RCAF) were all killed in action

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