Date:	Sunday 24 December 1944
Time:	18:50
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	460 Sqn RAAF
Registration:	PB255
MSN:	AR-E
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Oostelbeers, Noord-Brabant -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Takeoff at 14:50 hrs for an operation to Köln, Germany.

The Lanc was shot down by the crew of Leutnant Teschner/Technischer Inspektor Schmidt/Unteroffizier Köhler of the Stab IV./NJG 1, who had taken off from Dortmund-Brackel at 18:11 hrs, in Bf 110 G-4 G9+AY.
According to Uffz Köhler, the aircraft blew up like an enormous firework.
The seven crew members rest in a collective grave at Oostelbeers cemetery:

Pilot F/O. M.C. Skarratt 420763 RAAF
Flight Engineer Sgt. T.C. Newman 923554 RAF
Navigator F/Sgt. R.J. Dickie 430773 RAAF
Bomb Aimer F/O. J.M. Ward 437237 RAAF
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner F/Sgt. R.I. Stewart 434335 RAAF
Mid Upper Gunner F/Sgt. C.K. Deed 30853 RAAF
Rear Gunner F/Sgt. G.F. Day 433717 RAAF

The Reverend J. M. Morgan, the Roman Catholic Chaplain, of the 10th Canadian Field Park Company, R.C.E. visited the crash site and discovered a cart full of half burned and frozen human body parts. All that he could identify were two right hands, one left hand and one finger. He obtained fingerprints from the remains and buried the remains in the Parish cemetery on 27 December 1944.

An Air Ministry watch 6E/50 A 5606 was found which was later reported to belong to F/Sgt. Russell Ian Stewart (434335) RAAF. A gold signet ring belonging to Sgt. Thomas Charles Newman RAF (VR) was also found. These helped to identify which aircraft crash this was.

Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part five

https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T4831&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=

Google Maps

https://www.ozatwar.com/suemcd.htm

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=41574

http://aircrewremembered.com/skarratt-michael.html
460 Sqn RAAF: Record of Events (Operational Record Book) for December 1944: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1909/24 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8405774

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/remembering-f-o-m-c-skarratt-raaf-24-12-1944.44429/

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10322312

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

31 March 1944	ND738	460 Sqn RAAF	7	Ermreuth, Neunkirchen am Brand, Bayern		w/o
12 March 1945	PB187	460 Sqn RAAF	6	Duisburg-Meiderich		w/o

Own work/research

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
26-Aug-2013 08:11	JINX	Updated [Date, Operator, Phase, Source, Narrative]
29-Jan-2015 04:55	pietrzak	Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Photo, ]
29-Jan-2015 17:05	PIETRZAK	Updated [Source, Narrative]
04-Jun-2015 08:04	INV	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport]
26-Oct-2019 15:03	TigerTimon	Updated [Date, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]
10-Sep-2021 12:01	TigerTimon	Updated [Source, Narrative]
15-Sep-2021 10:43	TigerTimon	Updated [Source, Narrative]