Missing Lancasters

550 Squadron Lancasters That Failed to Return

A number of 550 Lancasters listed on our web-site include the tag FTR (Failed to Return) and in many cases there is little information about where exactly they were lost. Clearly as time goes by it becomes even more difficult to obtain reliable information as to the fate of crews and aircraft.

Described below are just a few that were lost on operations; a number of these have been recently researched and the latest information available to the Assocaition web-site is recorded.

If you have any information about either the crews or flights described below then please email
admin@550squadronassociation.org.uk. Indeed if you have information about any crews or flight then again please email this address.

Lancaster LM379

F/Lt P J M Prangley and crew were the first 550 Squadron crew lost on operations. They were lost on 26/27 November 1943 on the raid on Berlin in LM379 very shortly after the squadron had been formed.

For details see: F/Lt P J M Prangley page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster NG363/BQ-P

Lancaster NG363/BQ-P was flown by F/O C J Clarke and crew. This aircraft was lost on the 07/08 January 1945 during a raid to Munich. Six of the crew were killed and one was injured and became a PoW.

In 2003/4 a request for information from a Brian Chapman in Ontario Canada was published in which he made a request for information about the this crew. See: /original-site-archive/index.htm (follow the Page 1 link).

This web-site has recently (Oct 2011) received a request for contact details for Brian Chapman in order to pass on information about the crash site as follows:

If anyone has contact details for Brian Chapman, or Brian is reading this, can you contact this web-site (email address above) so that the connection can be made and information can be passed on. Thanks.

For details see: F/O C J Clarke RCAF page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster LM461/BQ-U

Lancaster LM461/BQ-U was flown by W/O J I Miller and crew. On the 19/20 February 1944 while returning from a raid on Leipzig the BQ-U was shot down by a Luftwaffe night-fighter over Germany.

This lost aircraft was researched for a book published ca. November 2011 (Scherzer Militaer Verlag), Title Aufschlagbrand. The name does not translate well into English (literally "impact fire" or similar): the term is old Luftwaffen slang for a crashed aircraft which was found in a burnt out condition.

For details see: W/O J I Miller page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster ND396/BQ-D

The same researcher as above (LM461) also looked into another 550 Squadron Lancaster, ND396/BQ-D (Sgt G Hunter and crew), which failed to return from a raid on 30/31 January 1944. BQ-D was on a raid on Berlin when it was lost in the approach; all of the crew became PoWs. Other than this there was again little information available.

For details see: Sgt G Hunter page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster ME301/BQ-K

Lancaster ME301/BQ-K was flown by the F/O M D Hayes crew when it was lost on the 04/05 April 1945 on a raid on Lutzkendorf.The aircraft was brought down by flak, and crashed next to the village of Wernsdorf.

For details see: F/O M D Hayes page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster LM647/BQ-S

P/O J E H Davies and crew were lost on the 12/13 July 1944 operation to Revigny in LM647.

For details see: P/O J E H Davies page.

Thanks to Mark Simpson for providing the Assocation web-site with photos and associated analysis.

Lancaster ME428/BQ-O

550 Squadron Lancaster ME428/BQ-O (F/O R D Harris and crew) failed to return from a raid on Dessau on 07/08 March 1945 (one of three 550 Squadron Lancasters lost on the operation to Dessau). Research indicates that this is in fact the 121st, and last, aircraft downed by Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (16 February 1922 – 15 July 1950), known as "The Night Ghost Of St. Trond", German Luftwaffe night fighter pilot and the highest scoring night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare.

For details see: F/O R D Harris RCAF page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster ME503/BQ-R

Lancaster ME503 / BQ-R was flown by the P/O Nielson crew when it was lost on the 7/8 March 1945 on a raid on Dessau, crashing close to the village of Sollnitz, south-east of Dessau (one of three 550 Squadron Lancasters lost on the operation to Dessau).

For details see: P/O S W Nielson RAAF page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster PA995/BQ-V

Lancaster PA995 / BQ-V was flown by the F/O CJ Jones crew when it was lost on the 07/08 March 45 on operations to Dessau, crashing near the border of Saxony-Anhalt/Lower Saxony in an area locally known as the "Fallsteingebiet" next to the village Schauen in the direction of Hoppenstedt (15 km NE Bad Harzburg). This is the third of three 550 Lancasters lost that night.

For details see: F/O C J Jones RCAF page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster NG133/BQ-F2

Lancaster NG133 was flown by the F/O A Abrams crew when it was lost on the 14/15 October 1944 on operations to Duisburg, taking part in Operation Hurricane. This was one of two 550 Lancasters lost that night. All but the pilot lost their lives that night; F/O Abrams became a PoW.

For details see: F/O Abrams page.

Lancaster PD319/BQ-G

Lancaster PD319 was flown by the F/O H Dodds crew when it was also lost on Operation Hurricane on the 14/15 October 1944 to Duisburg. This was the second of two 550 Lancasters lost that night. All of the crew were killed.

For details see: F/O H Dodds page.

Lancaster LM425/BQ-N

Lancaster LM425 was flown by the F/Sgt A J H Jefferies crew when it was lost on 30/31st March 1944 on a operation to Nuremberg. Four of the crew were killed with the remaining three becoming PoWs.

For details see: F/Sgt Jefferies page.

Lancaster NF962/BQ-V

Lancaster NF962 was flown by the P/O P C Siddall crew (with P/O Siddall P2 to W/Cmdr Sisley, Commanding Officer 550 Squadron) when it was lost on a daylight operation on 31 August 1944 on operations against a flying bomb site at Agenville. All of the crew, including W/Cmdr Sisley, were killed.

W/Cmdr Sisley had a short tenure as Squadron CO. He was the third Squadron CO, and he had followed the previous CO, W/Cmdr Connolly, who had also been killed on operations just the previous month after a similarly short period as CO when LL837 was lost on operations to Revigny on 14 July 1944. The next CO, W/Cmdr Bell, likewise had a short period in charge before he became a PoW on the loss of NN715 on ops to Duisburg on 21/22 Feb 1945. To see the list of COs see: Senior Officers list.

For details see: P/O P C Siddall page.

Lancaster DV189/BQ-T2

Lancaster DV189 was flown by the F/O J G Bryson crew when it was also lost on 1/2 January 1944 on operation to Berlin. Two of the crew were killed and the remainder became PoWs.

For details see: F/O J G Bryson page.

Lancaster LM392/BQ-J

Lancaster LM392 was flown by the F/Lt J S G Crawford crew when it was shot down at over Artolsheim in Alsace on the return leg from Stuttgart on 15/16 March 1994. All of the crew were killed and are buried in Artolsheim Cemetery.

For details see: F/Lt J S G Crawford page.

Lancaster PD225/BQ-T

Lancaster PD225 was flown by the F/Lt D J Foster crew when it was lost on the 2/3rd November 1944 on operations to Dusseldorf.

For details see: F/Lt D J Foster page.

Lancaster LM273/BQ-O

Lancaster LM273 was flown by the F/O D H Grundy crew when it was lost on the Pforzheim operation on 23/24 February 1945.

For details see: F/O D H Grundy page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Also thanks to the staff of the Bürgermeisteramt, Eutingen im Gäu for documents supplied.

Lancaster JA934/BQ-H

Lancaster JA934 was flown by the F/Sgt R E Woodger crew when it was lost on 15/16 February 1944 on a raid on Berlin.

For details see: F/Sgt R E Woodger page.

Thanks to Jörg Helbig for providing the Assocation web-site with results from his investigations.

Lancaster DV309/BQ-S

Lancaster DV309 was flown by the P/O G W Hinde crew when it was one of three 550 Squadron Lancasters lost on the Duisburg operation on 21/22 May 1944. All of the crew were killed.

For details see: P/O G W Hinde page.

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