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Date: | Sunday 24 December 1944 |
Time: | 18:50 |
Type: | Avro Lancaster Mk III |
Owner/operator: | 460 Sqn RAAF |
Registration: | PB255 |
MSN: | AR-E |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Oostelbeers, Noord-Brabant -
Netherlands
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Takeoff at 14:50 hrs for an operation to Köln, Germany.
The Lanc was shot down by the crew of Leutnant Teschner/Technischer Inspektor Schmidt/Unteroffizier Köhler of the Stab IV./NJG 1, who had taken off from Dortmund-Brackel at 18:11 hrs, in Bf 110 G-4 G9+AY.
According to Uffz Köhler, the aircraft blew up like an enormous firework.
The seven crew members rest in a collective grave at Oostelbeers cemetery:
Pilot F/O. M.C. Skarratt 420763 RAAF
Flight Engineer Sgt. T.C. Newman 923554 RAF
Navigator F/Sgt. R.J. Dickie 430773 RAAF
Bomb Aimer F/O. J.M. Ward 437237 RAAF
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner F/Sgt. R.I. Stewart 434335 RAAF
Mid Upper Gunner F/Sgt. C.K. Deed 30853 RAAF
Rear Gunner F/Sgt. G.F. Day 433717 RAAF
The Reverend J. M. Morgan, the Roman Catholic Chaplain, of the 10th Canadian Field Park Company, R.C.E. visited the crash site and discovered a cart full of half burned and frozen human body parts. All that he could identify were two right hands, one left hand and one finger. He obtained fingerprints from the remains and buried the remains in the Parish cemetery on 27 December 1944.
An Air Ministry watch 6E/50 A 5606 was found which was later reported to belong to F/Sgt. Russell Ian Stewart (434335) RAAF. A gold signet ring belonging to Sgt. Thomas Charles Newman RAF (VR) was also found. These helped to identify which aircraft crash this was.
Sources:
Air-Britain Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part five
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T4831&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield= Google Maps
https://www.ozatwar.com/suemcd.htm http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=41574 http://aircrewremembered.com/skarratt-michael.html 460 Sqn RAAF: Record of Events (Operational Record Book) for December 1944: National Archives (PRO Kew) File AIR 27/1909/24 at
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8405774 http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/remembering-f-o-m-c-skarratt-raaf-24-12-1944.44429/ https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10322312
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
30 March 1943 |
ED391 |
460 Sqn RAAF |
7 |
along the Boerendijk road, Sibculo, Overijssel |
|
w/o |
31 March 1944 |
ND738 |
460 Sqn RAAF |
7 |
Ermreuth, Neunkirchen am Brand, Bayern |
|
w/o |
12 March 1945 |
PB187 |
460 Sqn RAAF |
6 |
Duisburg-Meiderich |
|
w/o |
Images:
Own work/research
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
17-Dec-2008 11:45 |
ASN archive |
Added |
26-Aug-2013 08:11 |
JINX |
Updated [Date, Operator, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
29-Jan-2015 04:55 |
pietrzak |
Updated [Time, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Photo, ] |
29-Jan-2015 17:05 |
PIETRZAK |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
04-Jun-2015 08:04 |
INV |
Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport] |
26-Oct-2019 15:03 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Date, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
10-Sep-2021 12:01 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
15-Sep-2021 10:43 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |