Crash of an Avro 683 Lancaster III in Esch: 7 killed
Date & Time:
Jun 17, 1943 at 0155 LT
Operator:
Registration:
ED945
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Elsham Wolds - Elsham Wolds
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Elsham Wolds at 2233LT on June 16 on an operation to Cologne. Passing over the Netherlands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Esch. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Keith Inger Dexter, pilot,
Sgt Roy Cyril Ridgway, flight engineer,
Sgt William Thomas Shepherd, navigator,
Sgt Harold Gwyn Thomas, bomb aimer,
Sgt Horace Staples, wireless operator,
Sgt James Maurice Carroll, air gunner,
Sgt Robert Arthur Heslop, air gunner.
Crew:
F/O Keith Inger Dexter, pilot,
Sgt Roy Cyril Ridgway, flight engineer,
Sgt William Thomas Shepherd, navigator,
Sgt Harold Gwyn Thomas, bomb aimer,
Sgt Horace Staples, wireless operator,
Sgt James Maurice Carroll, air gunner,
Sgt Robert Arthur Heslop, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
