Date & Time:
Jul 13, 1943 at 0108 LT
Type of aircraft:
Avro 683 Lancaster
Operator:
Registration:
ED531
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Mountains
Schedule:
Bottesford - Bottesford
Country:
Switzerland
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 Bottesford at 2249LT on July 12 on an operation to Torino. The airplane was supposed to overfly the French Alps at an altitude of 18,000 feet but poor weather conditions over the mountains forced the crew to change his course over Switzerland. This night, it is believed that 100 other RAF bombers passed over Switzerland bound for Torino. While cruising over the canton of Valais, the crew apparently encountered engine trouble and eventually lost control of the airplane that crashed in Thyon, south of Sion. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew (467th Sq):
F/O Graham Douglas Mitchell, pilot,
Sgt Benjamin Kenneth Hall Evans, flight engineer,
F/O Harold Raymond St George, navigator,
F/O Walter Henry Morgan, bomb aimer,
F/Sgt John Martin Maher, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Anthony David Terry, air gunner,
F/Sgt Hugh Burke Bolger, air gunner.
Crew (467th Sq):
F/O Graham Douglas Mitchell, pilot,
Sgt Benjamin Kenneth Hall Evans, flight engineer,
F/O Harold Raymond St George, navigator,
F/O Walter Henry Morgan, bomb aimer,
F/Sgt John Martin Maher, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Anthony David Terry, air gunner,
F/Sgt Hugh Burke Bolger, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Engine problems in flight. It is also possible that the airplane was shot down by the Swiss antiaircraft fire.
