Crash Site Avro Lancaster Mk III JA853 MG-L

On 16 February 1943, the Avro Lancaster bomber of RAF 7 Squadron Pathfinder Force crashed at this location. The aircraft had taken off from RAF Oakington at 16:20 for a mission to Berlin. As it belonged to the Pathfinder Force, it probably flew at the front of the formation to mark the targets for the other bombers over Berlin. It never got that far. The Lancaster was shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer in the Messerschmidt Bf 110 G-4 G9+DZ of 12./NJG 1, from Leeuwarden airfield.

The entire crew was killed in the crash. Five crew members were buried in the cemetery in Lemmer. The pilot Wallace Watson and the radio operator John Butterworth were never found.

Crew:
Pilot W/O W.A. Watson 412327 RAAF, age 21
Flight Engineer F/Sgt. R.E. Hedges 1800194 RAF, age 35
Navigator W/O W.M. Waterman 415061 RAAF, age 21
Bomb Aimer F/Sgt. C.L. Robinson 412270 RAAF, age 26
Wireless Operator F/Sgt. J. Butterworth 408306 RAAF, age 22
Air Gunner F/Sgt. R.D. McWha 414816 RAAF, age 23
Air Gunner Sgt. J. Hurst 1817269 RAF, age 19

The crash of Lancaster JA853 MG-L took place on the day that went down in history as “Black Thursday”. On that day, the RAF lost 25 aircraft and 148 crew members during a mission to Berlin.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Cor Keuning
• - https://www.verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/ahome/lossregister/results?sglo=T3217