Accident Avro Lancaster Mk X KB710, Saturday 13 May 1944
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Date:Saturday 13 May 1944
Time:00:49 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic LANC model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Avro Lancaster Mk X
Owner/operator:419 (Moose) Sqn RCAF
Registration: KB710
MSN: VR-W
Fatalities:Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:Veertig Bunder, Halle, Flemish Brabant -   Belgium
Phase: Combat
Nature:Military
Departure airport:RAF Middleton St George, County Durham
Destination airport:
Narrative:
Takeoff at 21:55 hrs for an operation against the railway yards at Leuven.
Homeward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by night fighter pilot Hauptmann Martin Drewes (Kommandeur of the III./NJG 1), who had taken off from Venlo airfield in the Netherlands at 23:49 hrs, in Bf 110 G-4 G9+DS. This was his 33rd victory.

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer Harold Ingram Smith RCAF J/19595 [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant Ronald Bull RAF 637026 [Killed]
Navigator : Flying Officer James Lambert Moore RCAF J/23943 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer Walter Raymond Finlayson RCAF J/26540 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Flying Officer Walter William Price RCAF J/26855 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Pilot Officer John Carlos O'Connell RCAF J/92329 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Pilot Officer Samuel George Livingstone RCAF J/86829 [Killed]

All lie at the Brussels Town Cemetery, Belgium (50.870581 / 4.419909)

Sources:

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part three
https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/lancaster-te-sint-genesius-rode
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=KB710
research by J. Preston (research of first hand information from Belgians who witnessed and documented the crash site)
Google Maps
Theo Boiten: Nachtjagd 1944 vol 3, p. 006.
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
03-Aug-2020 14:51 TigerTimon Added
17-Aug-2020 15:25 TigerTimon Updated [Location, Source, ]
26-Sep-2020 21:55 TigerTimon Updated [Location, Accident report, ]
28-Sep-2020 18:32 TigerTimon Updated [Location, ]
07-Nov-2022 01:38 Ron Averes Updated [Location, ]
07-May-2023 07:23 Anon. Updated
11-May-2024 14:50 Rob Davis Updated [Source, Narrative, ]

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