Date:	Saturday 9 May 1942
Time:	night
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk I
Owner/operator:	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF
Registration:	R5557
MSN:	KM-G
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Aircraft missing
Location:	Missing - North Sea -   Germany
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I R5557 44 Squadron, RAF: Delivered to 44 Sqaudron 24/4/1942. Lost without trace on the night of 8/9-5-1942 (just two weeks later): Aircraft posted as FTR (Failed To Return). Lancaster R5557/KM-G believed to have crashed into the North Sea en route to the target (Warnemünde, Germany). This aircraft was one of two 44 Squadron Lancasters that Failed To Return from this mission (the other was L7533/KM-J) out of the four that were sent. All eight crew posted as MIA (Missing In Action), later presumed KIA (Killed in Action)

Crew of Lancaster R5557:
741380 W/O Peter Owen Jones RAF (Pilot) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 72.
929941 Sgt Leonard Edward Evans RAF (Co-Pilot) Runnymede Memorial Panel 82.
924143 Sgt John Charles Drennan RAF (Flight Engineer) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 74.
J/7523 Plt Off Mado Henry Donald MacDonald RCAF (Navigator) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 101'
905398 Flt Sgt Patrick Herbert Harold Thirkell DFM (Bomb Airmer) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 76.
905995 Sgt Joseph Henry Miller (W/Op) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 89.
646924 Flt Sgt Charles Harry Ship (Air Gunner)- Runnymede Memorial Panel 76
628559 Flt Sgt Arthur Herbert Bolus (Air Gunner) - Runnymede Memorial Panel 73.

Mission: 8/9 May 1942 WARNEMUNDE
193 aircraft attacked the town and the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. The 193 aircraft were -
98 Wellingtons, 27 Stirlings, 21 Lancasters, 19 Halifaxes, 19 Hampdens, 9 Manchesters
19 aircraft were lost:
8 Wellingtons, 4 Lancasters, 3 Hampdens, 2 Halifaxes,1 Manchester, 1 Stirling

Sgt Leonard Evans (co-pilot) was on his first mission with 44 Squadron; Pilot Officer MacDonald was an American citizen who had "crossed the border" and enlisted in the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force), He was originally from California, USA. As the crew of Lancaster R5557 have no known grave, they are all commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

1. Royal Air Force Aircraft R1000-R9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
2. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985 p.27)
3. https://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_unknowncrashsites.pdf
4. 44 Squadron: Record of Events (Operational Record Book) File AIR 27/449/8 for May 1942 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8412154
5. 44 Squadron: Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/449/7 for May 1942 at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8412153
6. https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/114486
7. http://www.sonsofdamien.co.uk/44%20squadron.htm
8. https://blandfordschoolsmemorial.co.uk/sergeant-joseph-miller-44-rhodesia-sqn-raf/
9. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/canadaairwar/canadaairwar1942.pdf
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1802356/PETER%20OWEN%20JONES/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1269716/LEONARD%20EDWARD%20EVANS/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/232474/JOHN%20CHARLES%20DRENNAN/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1079279/MADO%20HENRY%20DONALD%20MACDONALD/
14. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1808625/PATRICK%20HERBERT%20HAROLD%20THIRKELL/
15. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1076846/JOSEPH%20HENRY%20MILLER/
16. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1807077/CHARLES%20HARRY%20SHIP/
17. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1530048/ARTHUR%20HERBERT%20BOLUS/

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

6 October 1942	W4188	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF	7	Rehmstraße street, Osnabrück, Niedersachsen		w/o
13 May 1943	W4305	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF	6	3 km south of Hörstel, Nordrhein-Westfalen		w/o
4 September 1943	DV155	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF	6	Buskow, Neuruppin, Brandenburg		w/o
28 June 1944	ME743	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF	7	English Channel		w/o
13 September 1944	PD267	207 Sqn RAF	7	Crashed 23:00 at Birkenstrasse 22, Stuttgart		w/o
4 December 1944	PB751	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF	0	Brettach, Baden-Württemberg		w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Dec-2017 19:38	Red Dragon	Added
30-Oct-2018 04:33	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Operator]
17-Jun-2021 20:11	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Country, Source, Narrative]
17-Jun-2021 20:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
03-Jul-2022 15:45	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]