Date:	Thursday 22 February 1945
Time:	evening
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	7 Squadron, RAF
Registration:	PA978
MSN:	MG-O
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 8
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Horcheim, Eisbach Valley Rhine-Hesse, near Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk. III PA978/MG-O of 7 Squadron, RAF. Reported lost/missing in action on the evening of 22 February 1945. Post war inquires and statements to the press indicate that the Lancaster came down at Horcheim, Eisbach Valley Rhine-Hesse, near Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate

Mission to Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Took off from RAF Oakington at 17:18 hrs. Of the eight crew six were lost (killed in action) and two survived to be captured and taken as PoWs. Accoarding to one source (see link #5)

"On the night of 13/14 February 1945, Bomber Command launched the infamous raid on Dresden. Two separate raids of 805 bombers led by RAF 7 Squadron as the Pathfinders, dropped more than 1,800 tons of bombs onto the target. US bombers attacked the marshalling yards and the city the following day. Civilian casualties exceeded 20,000, some figures claim 50,000 to 100,000, some even higher.

On 22 February 1945, it was the turn of the city of Worms, just north of Mannheim in Germany. A total of 349 aircraft attacked and dropped 1,116 tons of bombs on Worms and a further 177 aircraft attacked the Mittelland Canal near Hannover. The city of Worms was 39% destroyed, 239 were killed and 35,000 houses were destroyed. The population of Worms at the time was 58,000. The only German factory making sprocket wheels for tanks was destroyed in the raid.

RAF 7 Squadron, Pathfinder aircraft, Avro Lancaster PA978, call sign MG-O, flying from RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire took off at 1713 hours. Its payload of bombs for this raid was most probably, 5 x 2000 lb H C (High Capacity) and 1 x 500 lb M C (Medium Capacity).

No more was heard of Avro Lancaster PA978 after it took off. It was subsequently declared missing – lost on the night of 21/22 February 1945. Two of the crew survived and became prisoners of war, those killed in action are buried at Dürnbach War Cemetery, south of München (Munich) in Germany".

Those who died are buried in Durnbach War Cemetery. On being liberated, Sergeant Clydesdale was admitted to the RAF Hospital, at Wroughton, Swindown, Wiltshire. Flight Sergeant Watson was flying as the visual air bomber. At 19, Flying Officer Robertson was one of the youngest officers to be killed on Bomber Command operations on 1945.

Crew:-
Pilot: Flight Lieutenant James Blair Murdoch Liddell RAF 136443 [PoW] (NCO:1393621 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 2 March, 1943)
Flight Engineer: Sergeant William Edward Pickering RAFVR 1122361 [Killed]
Navigator: Flight Sergeant Gilbert Ferguson Sage RAFVR 1566413 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer: Flight Sergeant John Ronald Mears RAFVR 1395032 [Killed]
Visual Bomb Aimer: Flight Sergeant Harold Munro Watson RAFVR 1555045 [Killed]
Wireless Operator: Flying Officer Gordon Angus Robertson RAFVR 168782 [Killed] (NCO:1713843 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 4 April, 1944)
Mid-Upper Gunner: Sergeant H N Clydesdale RAF [PoW]
Rear Gunner: Sergeant Peter Louis Wyndham Scott RAFVR 1804436 [Killed]

All six crew fatalties were commemorated at Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany. The final resting place of the crew who died is roughly 400 km south west of their target. Allied forces had breached the Siegfried Line, 200 km to the west and were entering Germany at that time. Twelve RAF 7 Squadron Lancasters took part in the raid to Worms. All the others returned to RAF Oakington safely.

Horchheim is a village in the Eisbach valley in Rhine-Hesse, Germany. Incorporated into Worms in 1942, the district adjoins the outer city centre to the southwest. Worms city is in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about 60 km (40 miles) south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main.

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Royal Air Force Bomber Command losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 85.
3. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
4. Perthshire Advertiser, 8 and 12 March 1947 (formal annoucement of the loss of Flight Sergeant Gilbert Ferguson Sage after post-war inquiries)
5. https://madeinperth.org/flyers-from-perthshire-in-the-second-world-war-flight-sergeant-gilbert-ferguson-sage/
6. 7 Squadron Operational Record Book (Record of Events for the period 1 to 28 Febriuary 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/102/4 at: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8407316
7. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/
8. Aircraft Accident Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/February/1.html
9. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PA978
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._7_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Oakington#Second_World_War
12. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms-Horchheim

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Aug-2013 08:22	JINX	Added
28-May-2016 14:10	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
10-Nov-2018 21:48	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Operator, ]
05-Dec-2021 11:01	Rob Davis	Updated [Narrative, ]
26-Jan-2025 16:22	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ]