Date:	Wednesday 21 March 1945
Time:	overnight
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	97 (The Straits Settlements) Squadron, RAF
Registration:	PA973
MSN:	OF-C
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Missing In Action/Failed to Return: Target - Böhlen, Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk III PA973/OF-C of 97 (The Straits Settlements) Squadron, RAF. Missing In Action/Failed to Return on 21 March 1945: Target - Böhlen, Saxony. Took off from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire at 23:34 on 20 March 1945 to bomb a synthetic-oil plant. Lost without trace. All seven crew were posted as missing in action, believed killed in action on 21 March 1945, and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Five of the six Australians came from the State of Victoria, while their navigator Pilot Officer Murray RAAF, hailed from Lismore in New South Wales.

Crew of Lancaster PA973:
Flying Officer John Dennis COTTMAN RAAF (418813)(KIA)
Sergeant John William CROSS RAFVR (1395339) (KIA)
Pilot Officer Aubrey George MURRAY RAAF (432022)(KIA)
Flight Sergeant John Stewart COSTER RAAF (430103)(KIA)
Warrant Officer Harold James ARNEY RAAF (428596)(KIA)
Flight Sergeant Victor Edward PETSCHEL RAAF (437562)(KIA)
Flight Sergeant Lawrence Joseph BULL RAAF (430011)(KIA)

All seven crew were commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom

Böhlen is a town in Saxony, Germany, south of Leipzig

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 140.
3. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
4. 97 Squadron RAF Operational Record Book (Record of Events for the period 1 to 31 March 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/768/30 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8384860
5. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.80): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/PA964-PA999/mobile/index.html
6. Aircraft Accident Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/March/prt2/2.html
7. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1085047/john-dennis-cottman/
8. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/231556/john-william-cross/
9. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1077442/aubrey-george-murray/
10. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1085034/john-stewart-coster/
11. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1082950/harold-james-arney/
12. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1804254/victor-edward-petschel/
13. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1530794/lawrence-joseph-bull/
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._97_Squadron_RAF#World_War_II
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Coningsby#History
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6hlen

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Aug-2013 08:22	JINX	Added
01-Jun-2016 17:14	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
01-Nov-2018 15:24	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator, ]
19-Jan-2025 00:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Country, Source, Narrative, Category, ]