23 August 1943 - 103 Squadron, RAF Elsham Wolds - Avro Lancaster I - W4323 - RAF Elsham Wolds - Ground explosion prior to op to Berlin.
Location - On RAF Elsham Wolds Airfield.
Although clearly not a crash this is a noteworthy incident involving the destruction of an aircraft and one fatality so I will include it here.
On the day in question W4323 had been fuelled and bombed up ready for the night’s op to Berlin. It was to be flown by F/S D H Loop and crew.
I was told by one of the ground crew who was working on this aircraft at the time that the issue was caused by an electrician not following the correct procedures. The man was testing the bomb release circuits with the bomb doors open. With the bomb doors closed there was a safety cut out feature out which prevented release of any of the weapons.
There was a short circuit during the test and the small bomb containers jettisoned their load of incendiaries. These immediately started to burn on the concrete dispersal underneath the aircraft. The ground crew tried to kick these away to no effect.
The tractor driver hitched the pulling bar to the tail wheel of the Lancaster and was trying to tow the aircraft from its dispersal point to safety but it was realised that the aircraft brakes were on and it would not budge. Someone tried to get inside the aircraft to release the brakes and was flattened by a F/S coming out who told him to run for it – which he did and just managed to get clear in time although he was blown flat on his face.
The tractor driver was still valiantly trying to drag the aircraft away from the blazing incendiaries when the 4000 lb blockbuster went up. It was a huge explosion. The tractor somersaulted over the airfield perimeter and the unfortunate driver was propelled half way across the airfield on his face but luckily survived. Amazingly the only fatal casualty was Sgt Harry Wheeler ( pictured below - middle back row ) who was in a nearby aircraft which was trying to taxi along the perimeter track to safety. He was killed by a piece of shrapnel. Wreckage of the W4323 was spread over a very wide area. Two engines were found several hundred yards away. A third was found half a mile away. I am not sure if they ever found the fourth !
Above - Sgt H S Wheeler RAFVR middle
F/S Harry Sidney Wheeler RAFVR – Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – 103 Sqn – Camberwell New Cemetery, London.
There was a BEM awarded as a result of this incident which I presume went to the tractor driver involved. He deserved it. Sadly I do not know his name.
W4323 Record
This aircraft had an interesting incident packed history. On the 30/1/43 F/S Roper and crew in Lancaster W4323 were involved in a nasty crash on take off, amazingly without serious injury to any crew member. The aircraft was out of commission for sometime returning to service 3 months later.
22-Nov-42 - Stuttgart - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt JV Roper.
28-Nov-42 - Turin - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt EV Laing. - Temporarily lost control and all engines stopped, while crossing the Alps.
02-Dec-42 - Frankfurt - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt RH Morris - Engine U/S.
06-Dec-42 - Mannheim - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt JV Roper.
09-Dec-42 - Turin - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt AS Cook - Rear turret U/S outbound.
20-Dec-42 - Duisburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper - A/C U/S.
16-Jan-43 - Berlin - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper.
17-Jan-43 - Berlin - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper.
21-Jan-43- Essen - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper.
27-Jan-43 - Dusseldorf - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper .
30-Jan-43 - Hamburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S JV Roper - Swerved on take off and crashed.
30-Apr-43- Essen - Lancaster - W4323 - P/O DM Carey - ER - PO engine oil pressure dropping to zero and temperature rising.
04-May-43 - Dortmund - Lancaster - W4323 - F/O DW Finlay.
13-May-43 - Bochum - Lancaster - W4323- P/O HF Ewer.
23-May-43 - Dortmund - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt K Breckon - Combat with TE NF. Badly damaged. Rear and mid upper turrets damaged. EA claimed destroyed. Landed Downham Market.
24-Jul-43 - Hamburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S CM Brown - ER - Aircraft almost unmanageable over 8,000ft.
27-Jul-43 - Hamburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop.
29-Jul-43 - Hamburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop.
02-Aug-43- Hamburg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop.
07-Aug-43- Turin - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop .
10-Aug-43- Nuremberg - Lancaster - W4323 - F/O JF Marshall - Starboard inner engine U/S. Bombed Bad Mergengeim.
12-Aug-43- Milan - Lancaster - W4323 - F/O JF Marshall - Combat. Approached by a TE NF and later a SE NF both were lost during evasive action.
17-Aug-43- Peenemunde - Lancaster - W4323 - Sgt ET Townsend.
22-Aug-43 - Leverkusen - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop.
23-Aug-43 - Berlin - Lancaster - W4323 - F/S DH Loop - Destroyed on ground. Bomb load fell to ground while at dispersal and blew up.
Written by David Fell
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