ND963
AVRO Lancaster MKIII, ND963, OL-H, RAF 83 sqn.
On may 22nd, 1944, at 22:44, “H for Harry” departed from RAF Wyton for a raid on Brunswick. In the night of May 23rd, the aircraft came down around 00:45 just northwest of Nieuw Weerdinge as a result of a series of explosions after being shot by enemy aircraft. Three crew died in the crash, There were four survivors. Two of them landed in Nieuw Weerdinge, one with a broken leg, the third came down in Roswinkel and the forth in Emmer Emmer Compascuum.
Entry from the original RAF War diary on that date
22/23 May 1944
Brunswick: 225 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of No 1 and 5 Groups. 13 Lancasters lost, 5.5 per cent of the force.
This raid was a failure. The weather forecast had predicted a clear target but the marker aircraft found a complete covering of cloud. There was also interference on the Master Bomber’s radio communications, The No 5 Group method could not cope with these conditions and most of the bombing fell in the country areas around Brunswick. A reconnaissance aircraft flying through this area an hour later found it completely free of cloud.
Total effort for the night: 1,023 sorties, 34 aircraft (3.3 per cent) lost. The raids on Dortmund and Brunswick were the last major Bomber Command raids on German cities until after the invasion forces were firmly established in Normandy.
The Crew
f.l.t.r.: Dave Davies, Stanley Aspinall, Ken Lane, Stanley Hall, Don Cope, Dick Raymond
- Ken A. Lane, DFC
- Richard F. (Dick) Raymond
- J.S.A. (Stanley) Aspinall
- Don E. Cope
- John A. (Taffy) Jones
- Stanley J. Hall, DFM
- Ernest A. (Dave) Davies
