ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 244852
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| Date: | Monday 21 December 1942 |
| Time: | 23:30 LT |
| Type: |  Avro Lancaster Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 57 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | W4234 |
| MSN: | DX-? |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Kakebeke, Lierde, East Flanders -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire |
Takeoff at 17:37 hrs for a bombing operation against München in Germany.
Homeward-bound, the aircraft was intercepted by Hauptmann Wilhelm Herget of the Stab I./NJG 4 and by Leutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer of the Stab II./NJG 1. In the end, the victory was credited to Hptm. Herget because the two pilots tossed a coin to end the dispute.
The toss was carried out while the victims of so much ambition were taken to the Geraardsbergen cemetery. They were the pilot, F/O Ronald Alfred Bowles, from Ealing (Middlesex) - the navigator, F/O Alexander Eric Mulholland, 28 years old, from Aberdeen, married to Muriel Mulholland - the bomb aimer, Sgt Maurice Charles Pearman, 20 years old, from Anderley (Kent) - the radio operator/gunner Sgt Arthur Leslie Abraham, 22, from Coventry - the gunner, Sgt John Arhur Drain, 20, from Bonnington (Kent) and the Australian Sgt Cecil Raymond Stubbs, 28, from Newcastle, on the coast of New South Wales. Drain, Mulholland, Pearman and Stubbs rest in a 'collective grave', indicating that not much of their bodies have been recovered. Their names have been immortalised in the gravestones at the municipal cemetery of Geraardsbergen.
Sources:
Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part three
https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/lancaster-w4234-te-lierde
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=W4234
Google Maps
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 15 October 1942 | W4130 | 57 Sqn RAF | 7 | North Sea 50 km W of Leiden, Zuid-Holland |  |
w/o |
| 9 November 1942 | W4165 | 57 Sqn RAF | 7 | Spieka Neufeld, Wurster Nordseeküste, Niedersachsen |  |
w/o |
| 22 November 1942 | W4360 | 57 Sqn RAF | 7 | Tourinnes-Saint-Lambert, Walloon Brabant | |
w/o |
| 17 April 1945 | PD347 | 57 Sqn RAF | 0 | RAF East Kirkby, near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England |  |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Nov-2020 20:57 | TigerTimon | Added |
| 26-Jun-2022 21:28 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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