Lancaster Bomber R5845 YW-T

Original Silver Gelatin photograph

19 x 25 cm

Stamped to reverse “Copyright Hulton Press Ltd”

The RAF Maintenance Unit are recovering R5845 which was on the strength of 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit Winthorpe in October 1943 from the runway. Newark Air Museum have another photograph – included in the attached photographs, but not available for sale – of the entire aeroplane on a string of Queen Mary trailers.

R5845 was finally written off on the night of 18/19 July 1944 on a mission to destroy a railway junction at Revigny in France. With 11 x 1000lb and 3 x 500lb bombs nothing was heard of the aircraft after takeoff and it failed to return to base. Following the war it was established that it was intercepted by a night fighter on its way home. Four of the crew evaded capture, and one was made PoW, the Pilot F/O TEW Davis of RAAF being buried in the churchyard at Heiltz-le-Maurupt, Marne, France.

Provenance: from the collection of Philip J R Moyes, author of many books on the RAF, most notably The Pictorial History which ran to several volumes.

Condition: mostly good.