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Lancaster LL685

Type : Lancaster Last Flew : 14th January 1944 Known Codes : A2-G

Known information

14th January 1944

Squadron Leader Ernest Sly, DFC, having worked hard to get 'C' Flight ready for the fray, was in LL685, A2-G. His Lancaster was intercepted on approach to the target at 1905 hrs by Hptm. Walter Barte of Stab III./NJG3 West of Bennebostel and shot down, crashing 800 metres W of Bennebostel, 5 km S of Celle, where all were buried on 15th Jan44. S/L Sly was the highest ranking officer to be lost by the squadron. They were subsequently reinterred in the Hannover War Cemetery. P/O Harvey had won an immediate DFM while serving with 149 Sqdn, the citation gazetted 16 Mar 43 paid tribute to his devotion to duty despite having been wounded in the head. The awards gained by P/O Thomas, F/O Sneddon and P/O Rosher, were gazetted 14May43, 9Jul43, and 11Jun43 respectively S/L EF Sly DFC (Pilot) F/O PF Boulter (Flight Engineer F/O JL Martin RCAF – Navigator P/O EH Thomas DFM RCAF – Bomb Aimer P/O WL Harvey DFM RNZAF – WOP/AG F/O JA Sneddon DFM RCAF – MU Gunner P/O FG Rosher DFM - Rear Gunner S/L Sly DFC was Flight Commander, ‘C’ Flight.

Squadrons for : Lancaster LL685
A list of all squadrons known to have flown Lancaster LL685. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
No.514 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 1st September 1943 Fate : Disbanded 22nd August 1945 Nil obstare potest - Nothing can withstand Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.514 Sqn RAF	No.514 Sqn RAF No. 514 Squadron was formed at Foulsham, Norfolk, on 1st September 1943, as a heavy-bomber squadron in No. 3 Group. Beginning operations (in November 1943) with Lancaster IIs, it gradually changed over to Lancaster Is and IIIs during the summer of 1944, and, in all, over a span of 18 months, flew 3,675 operational sorties. Its personnel won 1 DSO, 84 DFCs, 1 bar to the DFC, and 26 DFMs. Immediately before the German capitulation the squadron dropped food supplies to the starving Dutch people and, subsequently, its aircraft were busily employed on ferrying liberated POWs to England from France and Belgium.

Aircraft type : Lancaster
A profile page including a list of all art prints for the Lancaster is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Lancaster Click the name above to see prints featuring Lancaster aircraft. Manufacturer : Avro Production Began : 1942 Retired : 1963 Number Built : 7377	Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' Operation Gomorrah in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992.

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