Date & Time:
May 17, 1943 at 0200 LT
Type of aircraft:
Avro 683 Lancaster
Operator:
Registration:
ED865
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Bombing
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Scampton - Scampton
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 aircraft left RAF Scampton in the evening of May 16 to attack the Sorpe Dam located southeast of Dortmund. While overflying The Netherlands by night, the aircraft was shot down by the German Flak and crashed in flames in a field. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew (617th Squadron):
P/O Lewis Johnstone Burpee, pilot,
Sgt Guy Pegler, flight engineer,
Sgt Thomas Jaye, navigator,
F/Sgt James Lamb Arthur, air bomber,
P/O Leonard George Weller, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt William Charles Arthur Long, air gunner,
W/O Joseph Gordon Brady, air gunner.
Crew (617th Squadron):
P/O Lewis Johnstone Burpee, pilot,
Sgt Guy Pegler, flight engineer,
Sgt Thomas Jaye, navigator,
F/Sgt James Lamb Arthur, air bomber,
P/O Leonard George Weller, wireless operator and air gunner,
Sgt William Charles Arthur Long, air gunner,
W/O Joseph Gordon Brady, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by the German Flak.
