AIRCRAFT PROFILE

Aircraft:

PD232

Type:

Lancaster Mk. I

Contractor:

Contract No:

Engines:

Construction:

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AIRCRAFT HISTORY

Date

Event

Sqn Code

25 Nov 1943

Initial record to be updated when first event found

UL-F2

07 Feb 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-O2

25 Sep 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-F2

22 Nov 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

Ul-F2

22 Nov 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-F2

22 Nov 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-F2

09 Dec 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-F2

11 Dec 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-O2

17 Dec 1944

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-O2

05 Jan 1945

Change of Sqn Code based on Flight Record created

UL-O2

576 Squadron OPERATIONS

Code

Date

Operation

Captain

Events

UL-O2

16 Aug 1944

STETTIN

Flt Lt R. Bibby

Port & industrial areas

UL-O2

12 Sep 1944

FRANKFURT

Plt Off K.A. Moore

Target: Marshalling yards. Hammond diary: “1x 4000lb & 14x 500lb incendiary containers. 3rd wave. Some fires and bags of smoke over target area. Bomb red Tis but not too well. First fighter attacks on run-out by Me110. Jock has a quick burst but no result. See 5 fighters in all but no further attacks. Flak which we thought ‘intense’ was reported as ‘medium’ on return home, 2 rums and so to bed”.

UL-O2

17 Sep 1944

LEEUWARDEN

Plt Off K.A. Moore

Target: Luftwaffe airfield. Flown in support of Operation Market Garden. Aircraft engaged in combat with enemy night fighter (no copy of combat report). Hammond diary: “13x 1000lb & 4x 500lb. German night fighter drome, apparently the source of many of our worries. Short circuit as bomb doors open and complete load falls some 10 miles short of target. Bring back extremely good photo of cultivated French fields! 3 fighter attacks commencing from coast. Weave right across channel but get holed in 4 places. F/O Syerston and crew chopped”.

UL-O2

23 Sep 1944

NEUSS

Fg Off R.M. Crowther

Target: Marshalling yards

UL-O2

17 Dec 1944

ULM

Flt Lt A.H. Dutton

Target: Marshalling yards and supply centres.

UL-O2

05 Jan 1945

ROYAN

Flt Lt R.M. Crowther

Target: Enemy garrison and supply depot. Bombed at 9,000 ft.

UL-O2

22 Jan 1945

DUISBERG

Plt Off R.R.J. Young

Target: Steelwork coking ovens & rolling mills in the Hamborn area of the city and a benzol plant in Bruckhausen. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 16x 500lb bombs.

UL-O2

01 Feb 1945

LUDWIGSHAFEN

Fg Off R.R.J. Young

Target: Marshalling yards, factories and enemy troop positions. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1620x 4lb incendiaries

UL-O2

02 Feb 1945

WIESBADEN

Fg Off R.R.J. Young

Target: Built-up area where large amounts of enemy troops were resting. Load: 1x 4000lb 'cookie', 1604x 4lb incendiaries

UL-O2

07 Feb 1945

KLEVE

Fg Off A.H. Young

Target: Enemy strongpoints. Flown in support of the 1st Canadian Army and the 15th Scottish Division attacking the town. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 16 x 500lb bombs.

UL-O2

07 Feb 1945

KLEVE

Fg Off R.R.J. Young

Target: Enemy strongpoints. Flown in support of the 1st Canadian Army and the 15th Scottish Division attacking the town. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 16 x 500lb bombs

UL-O2

08 Feb 1945

POLITZ

Fg Off R.R.J. Young

Target: The IG Farben synthetic oil plant. AP: 5333.5N 01444.5E. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 10x 500lb bombs.

UL-O2

13 Feb 1945

DRESDEN

Fg Off R.R.J. Young

Operation THUNDERCLAP. Target: built-up area. Load: 1x 4000lb ‘cookie’, 1180x 4lb incendiaries. At 2125 on the evening of 13 Feb 1945 Roland Young's Lancaster PD232 (UL-O2) took off from Fiskerton to attack the German city of Dresden as part of Operation THUNDERCLAP. The bomber Main Force route took them over the English Channel at Beachy Head to Boulogne then behind Allied lines to a position south of Strasburg where Main Force Lancasters turned North East towards Leipzig. At about 0100 a villager noted that he saw two aircraft collide over the lower Saxony village of Remlingen, 17 Km North of Wurzburg. Both aircraft were travelling in a north-easterly direction when they collided and en-route to the target. Records indicate that the two Lancasters were PD232 and PB183 (LQ-C) of 405 (Pathfinder) Sqn from Gransden Lodge. PB183 was probably a ʺbacker upʺ flying in the Main Force Bomber stream and carrying Target Indicators to reinforce the initial marking. As the aircraft impacted the ground, their bomb loads exploded making craters some 6m wide and scattering their wreckage over a distance of 1 km. The mid-air explosion caused part of one of the Lancasters to be blown 5km northwards where it came down near the village of Birkenfeld. The wreckage continued to burn for several hours and a Luftwaffe detachment arrived from Wurtzburg to guard the wreckage. The Burgermeister stated that he saw 5 engines in the wreckage, but no more. All Young’s crew perished and were buried initially, along with four of the 405 Sqn crew, in the village graveyard of Remlingen. The two Air Gunners, Ward and Webb were only 19 years old. The pilot of the 405 Sqn Lancaster had bailed out and was captured; his crew were carrying an eighth crew member, who also perished. The bodies of four of his crew were never recovered and are remembered on the Runnymede memorial. In Oct 1947 the bodies of the crew were identified in Remlingen village graveyard by Fg Off Bickerton leading a No.3 MREU search team tracing the whereabouts of downed aircrew. They were exhumed and reburied at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery at Dürnbach.

NOSE ART

Default Nose Image - Waiting for design

Default Nose Image - Waiting for design

AIRCRAFT IMAGES

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MOVEMENT CARDS

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LOSS CARDS

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LOSS/INCIDENT REPORT

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