Date:	Tuesday 2 January 1945
Time:	20:40-55
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	166 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PB635
MSN:	AS-G
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Approx 1 Km west of Puttelenge, France, approx 1 Km North of road to R -   France
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kirmington
Destination airport:	RAF Kirmington

Narrative:
Missing on return from Nurnberg. Bombed Nurenburg approx 1930 hrs. Believed shot down by United States anti-aircraft gunnery. Others claim possibly shot down by German night fighter ace Martin Becker (deceased 2006) who claimed 2 hits that night but his times are not compatible with the crash time of PB635. The pilot (RCAF) of another Lancaster stated he was hit by anti-aircraft fire. That could only have come from US Forces. Allied planes were ordered to NOT switch on IFF as that would assist Germans to trace and attack aircraft. Reports crash was near Poitiers are NOT correct - original grid ref. error. W01 Weston and Flt Sgt Gilbert bodies were brought to Choloy from a temporary US Military Cemetery at Grand Failly. All crew are now buried at Choloy.
Crew:-
Pilot : Flying Officer Henry Burgoyne RAFVR 145766 [Killed] (NCO:1392819 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 26 October, 1943)
Flight Engineer : Sergeant William Edmund Lane RAFVR 1819493 [Killed]
Navigator : Flight Sergeant Joseph Henry Gilbert RAFVR 1602863 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flight Sergeant Michael Leyland RAFVR 1323200 [Killed]
Air Gunner : Flight Sergeant Leonard Earl Riggs RCAF R/218495 [Killed]
Air Gunner : Sergeant Thomas Fraser Stewart RAFVR 1826779 [Killed]
Air Gunner : Warrant Officer Class I Richard Verdun Weston RCAF R/99738 [Killed]

Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999. Family and others research and reference to Kew records.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 28.
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

3 June 1944

ND651

166 Sqn RAF

7

Baraques, 3 km north of Calais, Pas-de-Calais

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Aug-2013 16:04	JINX	Added
10-Nov-2015 13:58	Ross Watson	Updated [Date, Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
17-May-2016 16:16	Red Dragon	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
02-Nov-2018 18:20	Nepa	Updated [Time, Operator, Operator]
02-Jan-2024 08:09	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative]