Lancaster DS673 Mk.II - Bombing Hamburg Germany - 1943-08-02 to 1943-08-03
Squadron: 115 (B) Sqn (RAF)
Start Date: 1943-08-02
Completion Date: 1943-08-03
Mission: Bombing
Operation: unspecified
Target City: Hamburg Germany
Target Specific:
Base: RAF East Wretham
Take Off Time: 23:50:00
Squadron Code: KO-V
Radio Code:
Return Base:
Return Time:
Crash City: Germany
Crash Specifics: in the Waddensea, 5 km South of Spiekeroog, Niedersachsen
Crash Latitude: 0.00000000
Crash Longitude: 0.00000000
Crash Reason: fighter
Flak Battery:
Enemy Claim: Oberfeldwebel Erich Heitmann of 2/NJG3
War Diary Unavailable

6 Bomber Group August 2/3, 1943

54 Halifaxes from 408, 419, 427 and 428 Squadrons were joined by 19 Wellingtons from 429 and 432 Squadrons on an attack at Hamburg. The crews were over the target at between 15,000 and 20,000 feet, releasing 40,000 lbs of high explosives and 110,000 lbs of incendiaries. This attack was a failure due to severe icing and thunder storms to and from the target. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)

115 Squadron (Despite The Elements) RAF East Wretham, Kent, England. Lancaster II aircraft DS 673 KO-V was lost on a night operation to bomb targets in Hamburg, Germany, shot down by night fighter pilot Oberfeldwebel Erich Heitmann of 2/NJG3. The Lancaster crashed in the Waddensea, 5 km South of Spiekeroog, Niedersachsen, Germany

Flight Sergeant Kenneth Eckert Schlegel (RCAF), Sergeant Dudley Herbert Read (RAFVR), Sergeant Herbert Alfred Sparrow (RAFVR), Flight Sergeant Dudley William Bellamy (RAFVR), Sergeant Robert William Bennett (RAFVR), Sergeant William Henry Hodges (RAFVR) and Sergeant Leslie Ernest Fuller (RAFVR) were all killed in action.

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part 2, 23 June - 22 September by Theo Boiten, page 51

unvetted Source Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database

unvetted Source Aviation Safety Network

unvetted Source 115 Squadron

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