Crew Lancaster LL882 N° 463 Sqn crash may 11 1994 in Belgium

[Alain57]

Hello ,

On may 11 1944 LancasterLL882 from 463 sqdn crashed at Langemark Pilkem Belgium .
The crew was
S/L Powell Mervyn 402817 pilot DFC RAAF (KIA)
Sgt Molyneux Harry L engineer 1802369 (KIA)
F/O Jacques Ronald navigator 134697
F/S Fraser Bertram 1443752 (KIA) bombardier
F/L Read William N 406700 RAAF (KIA) wop
F/L Croft Robert Mck 407199 RAAF (KIA) gunner
F/O Croston David P 407821 RAAF (KIA) gunner
They were buried at Wevelgem communal cemetery , in the photo in front of a Wellington is Powell 2nd from left , Croston 3th from left , are the others the crew of Lancaster LL882 ?

Greetings
Alain

[RSwank]

The same photo shows up here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...P05660.001.jpg

but the identification of the men is quite different??????

[Alain57]

Hello ,

Thank you very much for the reply

Alain57

[Alain57]

Hello ,

Here another photo of Croston , isn't he the 3th from left with the moustache ?

Alain57

[Alain57]

Heelo,

Here one of Powell

Alain57

[alieneyes1]

The caption at AWM for this crew photo:

Group portrait of the crew of "K" for Kitty, a Vickers Wellington bomber of 458 Squadron RAAF after a raid. Identified, left to right: 404455 Sergeant (Sgt) James Howard "Rupe" Holmes, captain of Brisbane, Qld; 404611 Sgt Sven Ivanouw Hansen, 2nd pilot of Brisbane, Qld; 1261126 Sgt Les H Empson RAF, front gunner; 407199 Sgt Robert McKerlie (Bob) Croft, rear gunner of Adelaide, SA; probably 404343 Sgt Norman Henry Kobelke, observer of Brisbane, Qld (originally of Bulawayo, Rhodesia); 1283720 Sgt Ken A Cousins, RAF, wireless operator. Croft was later lost on operations whilst flying with 463 Squadron RAAF. The accident report describes the events: Lancaster LL882 took off from RAF Waddington at 2200 hours on the night of 10/11th May 1944 to bomb the marshalling yards at Lille, France. Bomb load 1 x 4000lb and 16 x 500lb bombs. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Fourteen aircraft from the Squadron took part in the raid and three of these including LL882 failed to return. Post war it was established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and dived into an old waterlogged clay pit at the Dumoulin brickworks some 2kms west of Langemark (West-Vlaanderen) and about 8kms north of Ieper (Ypres). All the crew were killed and they are buried in the Wevelgem Communal Cemetery which is located about 22kms east of Ieper a town centre on the Meenseweg NB connecting Ieper to Menin, Wevelgem and Kortrijk, Belgium. The crew were: RAAF 402817 Sqn Ldr M Powell, DFC Captain (Pilot); RAF FO Jaques, R (Navigator); RAF Flt Sgt B Fraser, (Bomb Aimer); RAAF 406700 Flt Lt Read, W N (Wireless Operator Air Gunner); RAF Sgt H L Molyneux, (Flight Engineer); RAAF 407199 FO Croft, R McK (Air Gunner); RAAF 407821 FO Croston, D P (Air Gunner).

[Alain57]

Goodmorning ,

So Croft is the only crewmember of LL882 in the photo. Thanks once more for the help.

Alain57

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Just for curiosity...is it known who (German NJG pilot) claimed this machine?

A.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

Just for curiosity...is it known who (German NJG pilot) claimed this machine?

A.

According to the book "Nachjagd combat archive, 1944, part 2" by our member Theo Boiten, the Lancaster LL882 was shot down by Lt Hans Schmitz of 4./NJG 1 (his first victory) at 0015 hrs on 11 May.

Very sad statistic, even for Bomber Command standards: of the 84 crew of the 12 bombers lost during the raid on Lille that night, there was only one survivor.