Crash of an Avro 683 Lancaster I near Bourg-Saint-Maurice: 7 killed
Date & Time:
Feb 4, 1943
Operator:
Registration:
ED352
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Scampton - Scampton
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Scampton at 1803LT on an operation to Torino. While approaching the Alps at night and in very poor weather conditions, it impacted the Belleface face located in the massif of La Pointe de La Terrasse, 7 km northwest of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. SAR operations were initiated but eventually suspended few days later as no trace of the airplane nor the crew was found. The wreckage was located few months later in a mountainous and isolated area.
Crew (57th Squadron):
F/O Alistair Frank Gray Ritch, pilot,
Sgt Thomas Cosford, flight engineer,
Sg Denis George Busby, navigator,
Sgt Eric Atkins, navigator,
Sgt Douglas McNeill, radio operator,
Sgt Eric Norman Perkins, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Ronald Shears, wireless operator and air gunner.
Crew (57th Squadron):
F/O Alistair Frank Gray Ritch, pilot,
Sgt Thomas Cosford, flight engineer,
Sg Denis George Busby, navigator,
Sgt Eric Atkins, navigator,
Sgt Douglas McNeill, radio operator,
Sgt Eric Norman Perkins, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt Ronald Shears, wireless operator and air gunner.
Probable cause:
Controlled flight into terrain in bad weather conditions.
