Date:	Monday 22 May 1944
Time:	02:06
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	44 (Rhodesia) Sqn RAF
Registration:	ND976
MSN:	KM-R
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	4 km north of Kallo, Beveren, East Flanders -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Operation: Duisburg. Take off 22:47 hrs from Dunholme Lodge.
Homeward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by night fighter pilot Hauptmann Paul Förster of the Stab I./NJG 1, who was flying a Heinkel He 219 A-0 from Venlo airfield in the Netherlands.
In captured German documents, it is stated that the aircraft crashed 4 km N of Calloo, 12 km NW of Antwerpen, Belgium. According to this documents, the aircraft came down in a water-filled crater. Another report, which is based on investigations at the scene of the crash and interrogation of local authorities, states that the aircraft crashed in a field near Doel, Belgium, presumably as the result of enemy action. The report adds that at the time of the crash a part of the Schelde Estuary had been flooded by the Germans and the field mentioned was flooded. Consequently the aitrcraft crashed into water. Excavation has been carried out and the remains of the 4 deceased crew members were recovered from the buried wreckage and interred in a communal cemetery. After that they where reburied at Leopoldsburg War Cemetery:

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer Leslie William Dunn RAAF Aus/414928 [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant James Southern RAFVR 941962 [Killed]
Navigator : Flight Sergeant Dennis Vernon Airey RAF 1285074 [PoW]
Bomb Aimer : Sergeant Colin MacFadyen RAFVR 1550855 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Ivor Bertram Thomas RAFVR 1184086 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant R O Murray RCAF 200740 [Evaded]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Geoffrey Joseph Young RAF 1801860 [PoW]

Credited to Hauptmann Paul Foerster, Stab. I/NJG 1 as his 7th victory.

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part three
BCL, National Archiv of Australia and CWGC
Google Maps
Theo Boiten: Nachtjagd 1944 vol 3, p. 012.
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Aug-2020 19:42	TigerTimon	Added
26-Jun-2022 21:42	Ron Averes	Updated [Location, ]
07-May-2023 07:24	Anon.	Updated
17-May-2024 06:48	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]