Date & Time:
Apr 4, 1943 at 0021 LT
Type of aircraft:
Avro 683 Lancaster
Operator:
Registration:
W4894
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
Warboys - Warboys
Country:
Netherlands
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Warboys at 1948LT on April 3 on an operation to Essen. Shortly after midnight, while returning to base following an uneventful mission and while overflying The Netherlands at night, the airplane was shot down by a German fighter and crashed into the Waddenzee, some 15 km east of Texel. All seven crew members were killed. Few debris of the aircraft were found in 1989.
Crew (156th Squadron):
F/Sgt Reginald Anderson Byass, pilot,
Sgt Gilbert Robert Minns, flight engineer,
F/O Gregory James Black, observer,
Sgt Norman Ray Thurecht, bomb aimer,
Sgt Russell Seymour Trigwell, wireless operator,
Sgt Donald Lawrence Robertson, air gunner,
Sgt Stanley Edward Crooks, air gunner.
Crew (156th Squadron):
F/Sgt Reginald Anderson Byass, pilot,
Sgt Gilbert Robert Minns, flight engineer,
F/O Gregory James Black, observer,
Sgt Norman Ray Thurecht, bomb aimer,
Sgt Russell Seymour Trigwell, wireless operator,
Sgt Donald Lawrence Robertson, air gunner,
Sgt Stanley Edward Crooks, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
