Lancaster R5489 KM-G Memorial - Branston, Lincolnshire, UK
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MoreOutdoor
N 53° 11.383 W 000° 28.085
30U E 669157 N 5896367
Situated within a new housing estate, which was the site of a WW2 Lancaster airplane crash.
The whole estate's street names have been dedicated to the occupants and rescuers of the crashed bomber.
Waymark Code: WM16AN2
Location: North East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/16/2022
Views: 0
The memorial is a stainless steel plaque mounted on a large boulder, believed to be local sandstone.
World War 2 saw Service personnel from around the world, volunteer to fight. On arrival training and familiarisation with. In this case, a Lancaster Bomber sadly went tragically wrong with the loss of life and the bravery of the local residents risking their own lives the extract the injured aircrew from the crash site.
At 19:15hrs on Sunday 16th, August 1942 a No 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron Lancaster R5489 KM-G was returning to RAF Waddington after a four-hour training flight. This was a familiarisation trip for the newly qualified Flight Engineer Sgt John ‘Jack’ Fletcher. The aircraft flown by Sgt Ron Easom was over Branston on the downwind leg of the circuit when the inner starboard engine caught fire. He ordered Jack to feather the engine and operate the fire extinguisher. Unfortunately, the Flight Engineer feathered the outer engine by mistake, causing the aircraft to yaw and stall, and it crashed into a pig sty, a shed, and trees before finally coming to rest on the south side of the village behind a row of cottages called Mill Row on the Sleaford Road.
The aircraft broke in two, just behind the main spar, and was instantly engulfed in flames. Frank Walshaw, the Wireless Operator had braced himself for the impact, but the radio transmitter broke from its mounting and hit him in the chest. He remembers being dragged from the wreckage and laid on the ground near the cottages, meanwhile, the fuel tanks had ruptured and blazing fuel was all around the aircraft.
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