Accident Vickers Wellington Mk IV Z1254 ,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 203259
 
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Date:Thursday 7 May 1942
Time:01:31 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic well model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Vickers Wellington Mk IV
Owner/operator:460 Sqn RAAF
Registration: Z1254
MSN: UV-L
Fatalities:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:just north of Mannheim-Waldhof; Baden-Württemberg -   Germany
Phase: Combat
Nature:Military
Departure airport:RAF Breighton
Destination airport:
Narrative:
Takeoff at 21:31 hrs for an operation against Stuttgart.
The aircraft was coned by searchlights and hit by heavy (schwere) Flak; crashed in Mannheim.
Those who perished were initially buried here. After hostilities they were reinterred at Durnbach War Cemetery. In a later statement by Sgt Lake he reported “the aircraft was caught in searchlights and shortly after set on fire by flak. The aircraft was enveloped in flames in a matter of seconds. Nothing was heard from the Captain and Lake baled out at approx 11000 feet and landed in a village about 01:30 and was captured by police after daylight. No others had baled out and shortly after he left the aircraft there was an explosion. The aircraft was hit near Karlsruhe.”


Pilot: 39458 Sqn Ldr Colin Leslie Gilbert - Durnbach War Cemetery 2. G. 4.
2nd Pilot:404705 Sgt Reginald Henry Murphy RAAF - Durnbach War Cemetery 2. G. 2.
Observer:400335 Sgt John Robert Shearer RAAF - Durnbach War Cemetery 2. G. 3.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: 1169818 Sgt Christopher Norman Dixon - Durnbach War Cemetery 2. G. 5.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: R/56267 Flt Sgt Kenneth Andrew Fogg RCAF - Durnbach War Cemetery 2. G. 1.
Air Gunner:404421 Sgt J G Lake - Stalag Luft 6 Heydekrug. PoW Number 66.

Sources:

Bomber Command Losses 1942
Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part two
CWGC
460 SQUADRON RAAF, WORLD WAR 2 FATALITIES
RAF Prisoners of War
Google Maps
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=Z1254+&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
10 August 1942 Z1463 460 Sqn RAAF 5 Remmelinkdijk road, Keijenborg, Gelderland w/o

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
23-Dec-2017 13:59 Red Dragon Added
21-Oct-2018 13:33 stehlik49 Updated [Operator, Destination airport]
29-Oct-2019 11:07 Uli Elch Updated [Operator, Location]
01-Nov-2019 19:33 Anon. Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
05-May-2022 19:18 TigerTimon Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative]

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