[Steve Smith]

Hi Joe,

I am no Lancaster expert re hydraulics. !
Witnesses record that the Lancaster flown by F/Lt Douglas Haggis approached Felixstowe from the S.W with its u/c lowered and both port engines feathered . After circling the town it is assumed that the pilot was trying to locate place to make a forced landing.While banking near the New Pier the aircraft banked to port (into the feathered engines) side slipped and dived into the sea.

Other than the obvious difficulties of two defective engines, a lowered undercarriage (which would have be suicidal to have attempted a ditching and therefore could establish hydraulic failure) and added the addition of flak damage I can only speculate. I would have presumed exhaustion would have been a major factor as LM258 HA-Q was hit by flak over the target area resulting in the pilot having to fly back on two engines. Another factor could have been lack of operational experience on the Lancaster. The crew was on their third operation on the type having flown their first Lancaster trip on August 11th against Lens Marshalling Yards just 4 days prior. The Haggis crew had until this fateful trip completed 9 operations, 7 of which were flown with Short Stirling Mk.IIIs
Regards

Steve