1/72 Hasegawa Lancaster

Gallery Article by Ryan Cameron on Mar 22 2011

Anniversary of the crash of this Lancaster March 22, 1945

 

There is a bit of a story I would like to share that came about for this tribute build for my great uncle. Growing up, I knew that both sides of my family served during WW2 and that one family member never returned, William Dean.  My Grandfather could not recall much of what happened to him, so I decided I would try to find out for myself. Bill, as he was known to family and friends, was an RAF Navigator assigned to 460 Sqn (Australlian) based out of Binbrook, England.  On the night of March 21, 1945, Lancaster AR-Y NG466 target was Bruckstrasse.  The crew was shot down in the early morning of March 22, 1945, but unable to clarify if it was a night fighter or flak.  The plane crashed  at Bergisch Neukirchen, seven miles south of Soligen, Germany.  Of the crew, only the the Pilot Fl Lt Donald Heggie and the Bombadier Kenneth Ambler survived.  The rest or the crew died in the crash being Flight Engineer Sgt. H Brooke, Wireless Op Pilot Officer.  A Trotter, Gunner Sgt.  D Robinson, Gunner H Dunkerley and my great-uncle Navigator Sgt. Bill Dean.

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An investigation was carried out by local authorities and it was discovered that the Lancaster crashed on the rear of a house at 04:30, minus one engine and the tail unit, Cat.E. (Burned), partially buried.  Nothing more than parts of two parachutes were found.  Local gossip had it at the time three bodies had been in the aircraft, but only two were apparently recovered.  It was established that these two bodies were beyond recognition; the house owner had seen them in the morning.  His house was badly damaged and burned.  It was determined that Bill was one of these bodies still in the plane.  Another two crew members were found about 1 km from the wreckage that may have been thrown from the disintegrating burning aircraft, according to witnesses, at about 3000 ft.  All the crew members were recovered and buried at the Reinberg War Cemetery.

Once I found what happened, I passed all the information to my Grandfather, which was good for him as it gave him some closure as to what had happened to his older brother.  I wanted to build a model in the memory of Bill and his crew with a little artistic license with the small addition of the 11 mission markings that Bill flew in AR-Y.  The kit is the Hasegawa 1/ 72 Lancaster with a mixed set of decals from various sources. It was a fairly quick build and when I showed it to my Grandfather, his expression was all I needed.  This model is dedicated to the memory all of the crew of AR-Y, that both survived and perished the morning of March 22, 1945.  Thanks for reading.

Ryan Cameron

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Photos and text © by Ryan Cameron