Lancaster Mid-upper arc of fire

[Frasera]

Another observation from a ground witness. The Sgt Air Gunner of NF970 received his wound (s?) in the back, from above. He also believes there was some sort of Inquiry before repairs to the aircraft could be affected.

Thanks to all.

[RodM]

Hi Alan,

I would expect that in a few years a casualty file will be released to The National Archives, in series AIR 81. The transfer and de-classification of these files is underway but is proceeding in chronological order so it will take time for the 1945 files to be available...

I would expect that (originally) an accident investigation report would have been completed, but it seems that these either were purged from the files some years ago or are been purged prior to transfer to TNA.

I've just had a look at the 149 Sqn ORB appendices and it includes both combat reports for NF970, but I expect you know this and have these...

Anyway, I've added jpegs from the BC ORS Summary of Aircraft Lost and Damaged on Operations (from TNA AIR 14/3460). The numbers and letters annotated indicate the number of strikes and the calibre of strikes. For example '2y' indicates 2 x strikes by 0.303 inch rounds, '3d' indicates 3 x strikes by 20 mm rounds.

Cheers

Rod

[Frasera]

Thanks Rod,

Much appreciated. Yes, I do have the ORBs, but a lot of my info is word of mouth from Vets who attend our reunions. The Captain of the aircraft (O.A.K. Jones) was a regular attendee, up until his death. I did not know about that incident at the time - it would have been fascinating to get his viewpoint.

Thank you, also for the attachments.

Alan