Date:	Wednesday 22 September 1943
Time:	22:50
Type:	Short Stirling Mk III
Owner/operator:	218 Sqn RAF
Registration:	EF139
MSN:	HA-B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Lauenau, Niedersachsen -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Downham Market, Norfolk
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Takeoff at 19:00 hrs (local time) for an operation against Hannover.

The aircraft was damaged by Leutnant Robert Wolf of the 3./NJG 5, flying a Bf 110 from Stendal airfield. The rear gunner stated after the war that his aircraft had been brought down due to being hit by incendiaries just after bombing.

Note: also coned by a searchlight.

Crew:-
Pilot : Flight Sergeant Norman Vincent Spencer RCAF R/122306 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 16 June, 1942) [Killed]
Flight Engineer : Sergeant William George Morement RAF 1120513 [PoW]
Navigator : Flight Sergeant George McCowan King RCAF R/142247 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Warrant Officer Class II Douglas McKay Wylie RCAF R/129010 [Killed]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Sergeant Harold James Hicks RAFVR 1316957 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Pilot Officer Raymond Frederick Eberle RCAF J/27315 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Arnold William Baker RCAF R/112703 [PoW]

Those who did not survive rest in the Hanover War Cemetery, Germany (52.377026 / 9.654365)

Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 part two
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=EF139&qand=1943-09-22&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact
Google Maps
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Nachtjagdgeschwader/NJG5.htm
218 Sqn war records from The National Archives UK
Personnel files of all 5 RCAF crewmembers from Ancestry.ca (Archives Canada)
https://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=EF139
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2198619
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2074634
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2101042
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2101409
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Jun-2021 17:39	TigerTimon	Added
08-Oct-2023 14:19	tachel	Updated
30-May-2024 06:46	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]