Crash of an Avro 683 Lancaster I off Gedser: 7 killed
Date & Time:
Apr 21, 1943 at 0223 LT
Operator:
Registration:
W4956
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Breighton - Breighton
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Breighton at 2135LT on April 20 on an operation to Szczecin. Passing over Denmark, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed into the sea off Gedser. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/Sgt Walter Frank Pridgeon, pilot,
Sgt Charles Albert Willis, flight engineer,
F/O Ralph Edmund Dollar, navigator,
F/Sgt Peter Murchison Mackenzie, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frederick Albert Solly, wireless operator,
Sgt Russell Jesse Chapman, air gunner,
F/Sgt Robert Samuel King, air gunner.
Crew:
F/Sgt Walter Frank Pridgeon, pilot,
Sgt Charles Albert Willis, flight engineer,
F/O Ralph Edmund Dollar, navigator,
F/Sgt Peter Murchison Mackenzie, bomb aimer,
Sgt Frederick Albert Solly, wireless operator,
Sgt Russell Jesse Chapman, air gunner,
F/Sgt Robert Samuel King, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by the German Flak.
