This is an authentic, glass-framed aluminium airframe section and engine case parts all recovered from RAF Lancaster bomber shot down over Berlin during raid. The relics which are in nice condition and still retain some of there original wartime finish .
There is a aluminium section with green paintwork clear to see and 2 sections of mag allow engine case one with black paintwork the other melted in the fire when the aircraft crashed. All the parts have torn, bent and distorted by the impact of the crash but remain in good, solid condition. They have been carefully cleaned while preserving its original character and wartime patina.
The relics are presented in a glass-fronted box frame, complete with aircraft information and many pictures, making it an excellent display piece for any aviation or Second World War collection. The frame measures approximately 12 half inches by 12 half inches.
The parts come from RAF Lancaster bomber JB532,shot down by German anti-aircraft gun flak fire on the night of 1/2 January 1944 on the large new years day raid launched by the RAF over Berlin. The bomber crashed south of Berlin near the town of Trebbin approximately 250 meters north west of village of Gobbeuthen .
On the bitterly cold night of January 1, 1944, Avro Lancaster JB532 (code LE-X) took off from RAF East Kirkby at 23:55 hours, bound for the heavily defended heart of Germany. On board was an exceptionally skilled, multi-national crew of eight. Unusually, this was an expanded team; alongside the highly reliable 20-year-old Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Allister MacDonald, DFC, sat Wing Commander Kenneth Frederick Vare, AFC. Wing Commander Vare, an experienced 30-year-old New Zealander, was flying along as a second pilot. The rest of the tightly-knit crew comprised a talented mix of Royal Air Force and Australian airmen: Navigator Flying Officer Niels Erik Westergaard, DFC; Flight Engineer Sergeant Robert Francis Smale, MiD; Bomb Aimer Flight Sergeant John Mowbray Turnbull; Wireless Operator Sergeant William Richard Tyrie, DFM; Mid-Upper Gunner Flight Sergeant William Jenkins; and Australian Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant William Joseph Roche. Many of these young men had already been decorated for their bravery and skill in previous combat sorties.
The mission to bomb Berlin was a perilous undertaking, and on their return leg in the early hours of January 2, 1944, tragedy struck. Caught in a web of searchlights and heavy anti-aircraft fire over the southern outskirts of the target area, the Lancaster was severely hit by German flak batteries. The intense shelling caused catastrophic structural failure, tearing the aircraft apart in mid-air. The crippled heavy bomber plunged from the sky and crashed 300 yards northwest of the village of Großbeuthen, roughly 18 miles southwest of Berlin, where it exploded upon impact. There were no survivors, and the brave crew was initially laid to rest by locals in the Gross Beuthen Parish Cemetery before being permanently moved after the war to the Berlin War
This is an authentic, glass-framed aluminium airframe section and engine case parts all recovered from RAF Lancaster bomber shot down over Berlin during raid. The relics which are in nice condition and still retain some of there original wartime finish .
There is a aluminium section with green paintwork clear to see and 2 sections of mag allow engine case one with black paintwork the other melted in the fire when the aircraft crashed. All the parts have torn, bent and distorted by the impact of the crash but remain in good, solid condition. They have been carefully cleaned while preserving its original character and wartime patina.
The relics are presented in a glass-fronted box frame, complete with aircraft information and many pictures, making it an excellent display piece for any aviation or Second World War collection. The frame measures approximately 12 half inches by 12 half inches.
The parts come from RAF Lancaster bomber JB532,shot down by German anti-aircraft gun flak fire on the night of 1/2 January 1944 on the large new years day raid launched by the RAF over Berlin. The bomber crashed south of Berlin near the town of Trebbin approximately 250 meters north west of village of Gobbeuthen .
On the bitterly cold night of January 1, 1944, Avro Lancaster JB532 (code LE-X) took off from RAF East Kirkby at 23:55 hours, bound for the heavily defended heart of Germany. On board was an exceptionally skilled, multi-national crew of eight. Unusually, this was an expanded team; alongside the highly reliable 20-year-old Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Allister MacDonald, DFC, sat Wing Commander Kenneth Frederick Vare, AFC. Wing Commander Vare, an experienced 30-year-old New Zealander, was flying along as a second pilot. The rest of the tightly-knit crew comprised a talented mix of Royal Air Force and Australian airmen: Navigator Flying Officer Niels Erik Westergaard, DFC; Flight Engineer Sergeant Robert Francis Smale, MiD; Bomb Aimer Flight Sergeant John Mowbray Turnbull; Wireless Operator Sergeant William Richard Tyrie, DFM; Mid-Upper Gunner Flight Sergeant William Jenkins; and Australian Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant William Joseph Roche. Many of these young men had already been decorated for their bravery and skill in previous combat sorties.
The mission to bomb Berlin was a perilous undertaking, and on their return leg in the early hours of January 2, 1944, tragedy struck. Caught in a web of searchlights and heavy anti-aircraft fire over the southern outskirts of the target area, the Lancaster was severely hit by German flak batteries. The intense shelling caused catastrophic structural failure, tearing the aircraft apart in mid-air. The crippled heavy bomber plunged from the sky and crashed 300 yards northwest of the village of Großbeuthen, roughly 18 miles southwest of Berlin, where it exploded upon impact. There were no survivors, and the brave crew was initially laid to rest by locals in the Gross Beuthen Parish Cemetery before being permanently moved after the war to the Berlin War
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