Date & Time:
May 13, 1943 at 2357 LT
Type of aircraft:
Avro 683 Lancaster
Operator:
Registration:
ED693
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Skellingthorpe - Skellingthorpe
Country:
Germany
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
2
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
2
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Skellingthorpe at 2159LT on an operation to Plzeň. Just before midnight, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed in Messingen, 12 km southeast of Lingen. Two crew members were killed and five others became PoW.
Crew:
P/O William Goode Pickens, pilot,
Sgt C. Taylor, flight engineer,
P/O Michael Hall, navigator,
Sgt John Gordon Hanby, bomb aimer,
F/O Thomas Royds, wireless operator,
Sgt William Augustus Roberts, air gunner, †
W/O William Bruce Nichol, air gunner. †
Crew:
P/O William Goode Pickens, pilot,
Sgt C. Taylor, flight engineer,
P/O Michael Hall, navigator,
Sgt John Gordon Hanby, bomb aimer,
F/O Thomas Royds, wireless operator,
Sgt William Augustus Roberts, air gunner, †
W/O William Bruce Nichol, air gunner. †
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
