Crash Site Avro Lancaster ED910/G AJ-C

AJ-C took off from Scampton at 00:09 on 17 May as part of the 3rd wave. Its mission: the dams in the Ruhr area. The aircraft was armed with a bouncing mine. Gunners on board fired at searchlights and gun positions as the plane crossed Holland and Germany.

Near Hamm, a violent impact struck the aircraft’s port side, setting thee engines ablaze. The plane crashed north of Hamm, killed all but one crew member: Tees’ who was thrown out of his turret which was blown clear, possibly due to a secondary explosion from the Upkeep mine. Badly burned, he was swiftly captured and spent the remainder of the war as a POW.

The fact that the order was changed during the flight, namely not the Lister, but the Sorpedam, never reached the crew.

The crew consisted of Plt Off Warner ("Bill") Ottley DFC (pilot), Sgt Ronald Marsden (flight engineer), Flg Off Jack Barrett (navigator), Sgt Jack Guterman DFM (wireless operator), Sgt Thomas Johnston (bomb aimer), Sgt Harry Strange (front gunner), and Sgt Fred Tees (rear gunner). The deceased crew members were first buried in Hamm and eventually in the Reichswald war cemetery.

The impact of the plane left a crater which still can be seen in the landscape. A memorial on the site was recently renovated by locals.

To get to the site you will have to park your car on the road (Münsterstraße) and continue on foot.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: TracesofWar
• Dambustersblog.com