Date:	Sunday 4 March 1945
Time:	16:00
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	1653 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) RAF
Registration:	PD431
MSN:	H4-V
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Edith Weston, near RAF North Luffenham, Rutland, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Luffenham, Rutland
Destination airport:	RAF North Luffenham, Rutland

Narrative:
1653 HCU Lancaster PD431 H4-V had departed North Luffenham at 11:00 on 4 Match 1945 for a routine Cross-Country training flight. At approx 16:00, it returned to base but bounced hard on its first attempted landing on Runway 36. Power was increased to attempt a go around, however as it climbed away, its undercarriage hit an obstruction (latter discovered to be a van on the airfield)

Seconds later the aircraft clipped trees on the northern boundary of the airfield, then crashed close to the church of St Mary the Virgin in the nearby village of Edith Weston and caught fire. Six of the seven crew were killed in the crash, a seventh died later in RAF Hospital Rauceby near Sleaford - where the driver of the van (Sgt Ratcliffe who was an Air Gunner) was also transferred to. He died from his injuries on 5 March 1945. The memorial plaque was dedicated at 16:00 hrs on 4 March 2016, and is located 100 yards west of the crash site on the wall of the church of St, Mary the Virgin. All 7 crew on board killed:

Navigator: Flying Officer Bernard William DRAKE (55096) Lutterworth (St. Mary) Church, Leicestershire: Commemorated Lutterworth (St. Mary) Churchyard, United Kingdom
Pilot/Flight Engineer: Sergeant Dennis William GILBERT (627389) (627389) Commemorated at Kirby Muxloe Church, Leicestershire.
Air Gunner: Sergeant James THOMPSON (3040793): Commemorated at Sunderland (Mere Knolls) Cemetery, Sunderland, County Durham
Air Bomber: Flight Sergeant William Henry FORD (1535240): Commemorated Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Warrant Officer Donald Campbell McLELLAN RAAF (424442): Commemorated Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Flight Sergeant Terence George TRUSKETT RAAF (428001): Commemorated Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Flight Sergeant Ian Bailey YORKSTON RAAF (429072): Commemorated Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Other fatality:
Sergeant William Gordon Ratcliffe, RAFVR (2222927) Air Gunner (but driving a van at the time of this incident): Commemorated at Anderton (St Joseph) R C Churchyard, Lancashire

All buried in Cambridge City Cemetery, except where noted. Edith Weston is not a person, but a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is on the south-eastern shore of Rutland Water

1. Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
2. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/04449.php
3. http://aircrewremembered.com/truskett-terence-george.html
4. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/264770/
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2719276/BERNARD%20WILLIAM%20DRAKE/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2718895/DENNIS%20WILLIAM%20GILBERT/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2696951/JAMES%20THOMPSON/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2651097/WILLIAM%20HENRY%20FORD/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2651333/DONALD%20CAMPBELL%20McLELLAN/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2651610/TERENCE%20GEORGE%20TRUSKETT/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2651692/IAN%20BAILEY%20YORKSTON/
12. CWGC: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2697261/william-gordon-ratcliffe/
13. 1653 HCU RAF Operational Record Book (Record of events for the period 1 January 1942 to 28 February 1945): National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 29/612/5 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7160903
14. Aircraft Movement Card (Air Ministry Form AM.78): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-78s/Lancaster/
15. Aircraft Accident Card (Air Ministry Form AM,1180): https://lancasterbombersinfo.ipage.com/Data/Form-1180/Lancaster/1945/February/prt1/1.html
16. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/231451
17. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/250176
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_North_Luffenham
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Weston

Avro Lancaster PD431 © Colin Murray (WMR-93686) Avro Lancaster PD431 © Colin Murray (WMR-93686)

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Aug-2013 21:39	JINX	Added
28-Dec-2014 08:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
28-Dec-2014 08:24	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative, ]
21-Oct-2018 07:01	Anon.	Updated [Narrative, ]
08-Nov-2018 06:34	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
05-Nov-2019 17:11	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
21-Mar-2020 14:58	Anon.	Updated [Source, ]
24-Jul-2021 19:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ]
26-Jul-2021 17:34	ET44	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Operator, ]
17-Feb-2025 19:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative, Category, ]