Date:	Monday 22 May 1944
Time:	02:04 LT
Type:	Avro Lancaster Mk III
Owner/operator:	166 Sqn RAF
Registration:	ND579
MSN:	AS-M
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Sea (now Maasvlakte), Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Kirmington
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Takeoff at 22:30 hrs for a bombing operation against Duisburg, Germany.

Homeward-bound, the aircraft was intercepted and shot down by night fighter pilot Hauptmann Martin Drewes of the Stab III./NJG 1, who had taken off from Leeuwarden airfield at 00:09 hrs, in a Bf 110 G-4.
ND579 came down in the North Sea, into the area of todays ‘Maasvlakte’, the newest reclaimed land/harbour section of Rotterdam-Seaside, named ‘Yangtzehaven’ (near Hook of Holland), in the Province of Zuid-Holland. Some remains of the aircraft were recovered/‘dredged away’ from the new harbour basin whilst under construction, in June 1971, by the Recovery Unit of the Royal Dutch Air Force. The rest of the aircraft is still at the location, under meters of sand of the fuel tanker terminal, or into the bottom of the harbour basin (at Yangtze Harbour)

Crew:-
Pilot : Pilot Officer James William Reilly RAF 170273 (NCO:1561405 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 22 February, 1944) [PoW] taken to hospital first then Stalag Luft III Sagan (Poland)
Flight Engineer : Sergeant David Dickson RAFVR 1823811 [Killed]
Navigator : Flight Sergeant Leonard Charles Clutterbuck RAFVR 1319227 [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer P Pochailo RCAF 27129 [Evaded] died 21/5/2016.
Wireless Operator : Sergeant Terence John Meehan RAFVR 1335005 [Killed]
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant William Black Rankin RAFVR 1795202 [Killed]
Rear Gunner : Sergeant Arthur Patmore RAFVR 1585454 [Killed]

Sgt. Patmore was discovered in the wreckage of ND579 where it crashed, when it was disturbed by construction work in June 1971. Hence his re-burial at Bergen op Zoom

Cedited to Hauptmann Matin Drewes, stab. III/NJG 1 as his 39th victory. (5)

1. http://www.nimh.nl/nl/images/1944%20sec_tcm5-7285.pdf
2. http://home.cogeco.ca/~dswallow4/NetherlandCrashes.htm
3. Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part three
4. Google Maps
5. Theo Boiten: Nachtjagd 1944 vol 3, p. 012.
6. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
26-Dec-2014 21:05	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
26-Dec-2014 21:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative, ]
14-Jun-2016 12:34	Red Dragon	Updated [Cn, Destination airport, ]
16-Apr-2018 17:14	PHakze	Updated [Total fatalities, ]
06-May-2018 07:59	PHakze	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
10-May-2018 19:53	PHakze	Updated [Narrative, ]
02-Nov-2018 18:46	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator, ]
24-Jan-2019 20:32	Jos Gouman	Updated [Narrative, ]
03-Feb-2019 17:12	Anon.	Updated [Cn, Total fatalities, ]
17-Aug-2020 17:53	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
20-Mar-2021 11:17	Anon.	Updated [Narrative, ]
20-Jun-2022 01:09	Ron Averes	Updated [Location, ]
07-May-2023 07:24	Anon.	Updated
17-May-2024 06:55	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]