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Lancaster ED864 /G Information

Type	Lancaster
Serial Number	ED864 /G
Squadron	617
X1D	AJ-B
Operation	Chastise
Date 1	16th May 1943
Date 2	17th May 1943

Further Information

"Serial Range ED303 - EE202 This aircraft was one of 620 Lancasters ordered from A.V.Roe (Chadderton) in 1941 and built from Nov42 to Jun43 as 129 mk.1s and 491 Mk.111s in a mixed production run up to ED782 and all as Mk.111s from ED783 onwards. Mk.1s were initially fitted with Merlin 20 engines and the Mk.111s with Merlin 28 engines. ED864 was tested (?) 16Apr43, joined 617 Sqdn May43. First Wave Operation Chastise 16/17May43. Lost on its first Key Operation with a total of 23 hours. ED864 was one of eight Lancasters lost by 617 Sqdn on this operation. See: ED865; ED887; ED910; ED925; ED927; ED934; ED937. Airborne 2159 16May43from Scampton and headed for the M_hne Dam part of the first wave. Crashed 0015 17May43 after flying into High Tension cables near Marbeck, 5 km SSE of Borken. All are buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery. F/L Astell had previously served in the Middle East with 148 Sqdn. His DFC was Gazetted 14Aug42. F/L W.Astell DFC KIA Sgt J.Kinnear KIA P/O F.A.Wile RCAF KIA F/O D.Hopkinson KIA WO2 A.Garshowitz RCAF KIA F/s F.A.Garbas RCAF KIA Sgt R.Bolitho KIA "