Date:	Thursday 8 March 1945
Time:	overnight
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	57 Squadron RAF
Registration:	PB852
MSN:	DX-V
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Missing In Action/Failed to Return: Target - Harburg, Lower Saxony -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF East Kirkby, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B. Mk. I PB852/DX-V, 57 Squadron, RAF: Missing in Action/Failed to Return: Target - Harburg, Lower Saxony. Took off from RAF East Kirkby at 18:25 hrs to bomb oil installations. Lost without trace, all seven crew posted as Missing in Action (Killed in Action). All seven are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Crew:
Pilot: Flying Officer Charles William Baush RAFVR 183825 [Killed] (NCO:859241 Commission Gazetted: Tuesday 10 October, 1944)
Flight Engineer: Sergeant Thomas Norman Dunlop RAFVR 1798048 [Killed]
Navigator: Flight Sergeant Norman Cooper RAFVR 1604766 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer: Flight Sergeant John Ernest Thompson RAFVR 1458564 [Killed]
Wireless Operator: Flight Sergeant Donald Stuart Whitehouse RAFVR 2201639 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner: Flight Sergeant John Leslie Stone RAFVR 958686 [Killed]
Rear Gunner: Warrant Officer Donald Forbes RAFVR 1319950 [Killed]

Harburg is a borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg district in Lower Saxony. The borough of Harburg lies on the southern banks of the river Elbe and covers parts of the port of Hamburg as well as residential and rural areas.

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1945 Page 117.
3. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
4. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
5. https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PB852
6. 57 Squadron Operational Record Book (Record of Events for the period 1 to 31 March 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) AIR 27/540/6 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8452130
7. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/PB737-PB837/mobile/index.html
8. Aircraft Accident Record Card (Air Ministry Form AM.1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/March/prt2/2.html
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15248282/norman-cooper
10. https://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_photos_dispersal.htm
11. https://www.avro-lancaster.info/pbseries/pb852
12. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/101346/
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._57_Squadron_RAF#Second_World_War
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_East_Kirkby#History
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harburg,_Hamburg

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Aug-2013 02:41	JINX	Added
29-May-2016 16:29	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]
07-Mar-2018 14:30	Anon.	Updated [Departure airport, Narrative, ]
07-Nov-2018 18:51	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator, ]
26-Jan-2025 20:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Category, ]