Avro Lancaster III (EE173 EM-K) on a mission to Berlin on 1944-01-01
On Friday, 31 December 1943, (a part of) the aircraft of the 207 squadron (RAF), took off for a mission to Berlin in Germany from a station (airfield) in or near Spilsby.
One of the crew members was Pilot Officer R Burnet. He departed for his mission at 17:18.
He flew with a Avro Lancaster (type III, with serial EE173 and code EM-K). His mission and of the other crew members was planned for Saturday, 01 January 1944.
He actually took off from Spilsby on 30 Jan 1944 (not 31 Dec 1943) for Berlin. They were subsequently shot down that night (early hours of 31 Jan) south of Berlin after delivering their bomb load. They were shot down by a night fighter and his tail gunner was killed in the attack. The remainder of the crew survived and spent the rest of the war as POWs. Of note, his aircraft was recovered from the bottom of Krumme Lake on 31 July 1971.
Information about aircraft who did not return from this mission can be found here. Information about the other crew members on this flight can be found at this website (Aircrew Remembered). This website also provides the flight information for this record.
This record can also be found on the maps of Back to Normandy with Google coordinates. You can find the maps by clicking on this link on this location.
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