Date:	Sunday 31 December 1944
Time:	19:05 claim
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	626 Sqn RAF
Registration:	PB687
MSN:	UM-Q2
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	west of Verviers, Liège -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Took off at 14:51 hrs for an operation against Osterfeld, Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on the night of 31.12.44/01.01.45. Believed that the Lancaster crash landed in "friendly territory" near Verviers, Belgium. (Database of Army Museum says "Attenhoven" (area of Saint-Trond) as crashlocation and other sources say "Liège"). Crew of eight, only three known to have been killed, and named as follows:

F/O R.O. Beattie RCAF
F/O F.J. Benoit RAF.
Sgt H. Harrison RAF
F/O A.L. Warren RCAF
F/O K.A. McWilliam RCAF
F/O W.H. Pogson RCAF (KIA)
Sgt K.H. Austin RAF (KIA)
Sgt T.A. Casey RCAF (KIA)

The 3 crew members who were killed are buried at Hotton War Cemetery. At least two of the dead (Casey and Pogson) initially were buried at Henri Chapelle before being reinterred at Hotton, post war

PB687 was one of two Lancasters lost that night on a sortie attacking the railways at Osterfeld, and there were two others lost on another raid attacking other rail heads near Solingen (25 miles SW of Dortmund).

The Lanc was intercepted by Hauptmann Johannes Hager of the 6./NJG 1, who had taken off from Düsseldorf airfield (Germany) at 18:15 hrs, in Bf 110 G-4 G9+IP.

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2145/28
3. Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2145/27
4. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?75-loss-of-Lancaster-PB-687-626-Sqn&p=343#post343
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osterfeld
6. Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part five
7. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=PB687&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

22 March 1944

JB599

626 Sqn RAF

7

Blasheim, Lübbecke, Nordrhein-Westfalen

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
28-Aug-2013 19:45	JINX	Added
09-Nov-2018 16:59	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
25-Jul-2021 17:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
16-Sep-2021 15:29	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Cn, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Source, Narrative]
26-Jun-2022 02:31	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]