Date:	Tuesday 23 January 1945
Time:	overnight
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk III
Owner/operator:	153 Squadron, RAF
Registration:	PB636
MSN:	P4-D
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Missing In Action/Failed to Return: Target - Duisberg, Ruhr, NRW -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk. III PB636/P4-D, 153 Squadron, RAF. Posted as Missing in Action/Failed to Return on 23 January 1945 from a Mission to Duisburg, Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. in an operation involving 286 Lancasters and 16 DeHavilland Mosquitoes. The target was the Benzol plant in Bruckhausen.

Took off from RAF Scampton at 16:45 hrs. Aircraft and all seven crew on board lost without trace. All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. At 39, Sgt James whose second Christian name was Strettle, was well over the age for airmen employed on operational duties with Bomber Command. Post war inquires as late as August 1950 failed to discover any trace of what became of Lancaster PB636 and its crew

Crew:
Pilot: Flight Lieutenant Alan Edgar Jones DFC RAF 47423 [Killed] (NCO:567607 Commission Gazetted: Tuesday 09 June, 1942)
Flight Engineer: Sergeant Sydney Strettle James RAFVR 1869987 [Killed]
Navigator: Flight Sergeant Jack James Lewis McDonell RAAF Aus/428340 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer: Flight Sergeant Charles Leslie Cullen RAFVR 1439614 [Killed]
Wireless Operator: Warrant Officer John Edwin Bateup RAAF Aus/424283 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner: Sergeant Reuben Victor Trafford RAFVR 638898 [Killed]
Rear Gunner: Sergeant Albert Simpson RAFVR 1238641 [Killed]

All the crew are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 54.
3. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
4. 153 Squadron Operational Record Book (Record of Events for the period 1 to 31 January 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1029/26 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8389813
5. Aircraft Movement Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/PB561-PB641/mobile/index.html
6. Aircraft Accident Report Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/January/prt2/2.html
7. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1802245/alan-edgar-jones/
8. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1801081/sydney-strettle-james/
9. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1079300/jack-james-lewis-mcdonell/
10. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/231619/charles-leslie-cullen/
11. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1083542/john-edwin-bateup/
12. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1808978/reuben-victor-trafford/
13. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1807169/albert-simpson/
14. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15256369/alan_edgar-jones
15. https://aviationmuseumwa.org.au/afcraaf-roll/bateup-john-edwin-424283/
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._153_Squadron_RAF
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Scampton
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duisburg

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Aug-2013 16:05	JINX	Added
21-May-2016 16:15	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
06-Nov-2018 21:23	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator, ]
17-Jan-2025 21:31	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ]