Lancaster Bomber 514 Squadron

Good show Wayne this is indeed a Lancaster MKII with Bristol Hercules.

I also recognized the calling code and could identify DS-723 from 408 Squadron

This is a picture of the very one.




408 Lancaster II

 

Well folks it's so nice to know we have so many friends both far and wide. And so I wish you once again a
Merry Christmas with good health and happiness to you and yours.
Cheers Alex Campbell Skipper of Lancaster A2 C.

 

Thank you so much Alex and Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones too.

 

Dad received an interesting package from Michel who lives in Lutz en Dunois, France. Michel works on the farm where Lancaster A2-C crashed July 28, 1944. He believes most of the plane was taken to the airport at Chateaudun where any valuable metal was salvaged.
As I mentioned before, he has been using a metal detector to look for smaller metal artifacts at the site. He has found a number of small pieces in the field including .303 cases and many unidentified metal fragments.

At Christmas he mailed one of these metal fragments to Dad.

Link to images of this piece: Lancaster A2-C Engine Control Brackets

Dad believes this is from the cockpit of the Lanc and is a bracket from one of the 12 engine control units.
As he remembers there were 12 engine control units, 4 throttle, 4 CSU (Constant Speed Units) and 4 Mixture controls, all had a similar configuration and he thinks this casting may be part of the pivot assembly used on each unit.

Exciting to actually have a piece of the Lancaster after all these years.

 

What you have is probably a piece that was scattered around after the explosion of the delay bombs. the metal looks quite tortued and bent so I doubt it was shaped that way on the crash but rather when the bombs exploded. This of course is just a guess. Considering the font was very close from Chateaudun , the Bergungskommando that came to evaluate the site had very little time to recycle fuselage and sent it to Germany (less than 2 weeks) . They usually would come which a truck, a tripod crane and a few French workers to take some large parts of fuselage , the wings , tail and sometimes the engines. As you might know the remains of the wreckage was left behind and pushed in a quary after the war.

 

Alex, Skipper et al. You may be interested to know that the BBC screened a 90 minute documentary on terrestrial TV here in the UK at the weekend entitled Bomber Boys and presented by the actor Ewan McGregor and his brother Colin who is an ex-RAF 617 Sqn pilot. It was a fascinating and well made documentary with some great footage. But the best bit was probably when they took the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster aloft. Take a look on You Tube (Colin and Ewan McGregor fly an original Lancaster Bomber - Bomber Boys - BBC One - YouTube) for some beautiful aerial footage of a wonderful plane.

 

Cheers Chris, I heard about it.

 

Good to hear from you Chris. I enjoyed the little flip over the English countryside. Always good to hear from you people. Thanks to you and Slipdigit.
Alex Campbell

 

Yea here we are in 2012 - 68 years since Lancaster A2 C was shot down near Orleans France.
I am grateful to the many folks who helped me to survive and enjoy life.
Sincerely Skipper of A2 C Alex Campbell

 

Hello Alex, I hope you haven't thought I had forgotten about the July 29th anniverary. In fact I have been thinking about it all the time. You may have noticed I wasn't on the forum at all. In fact I was In Sweden and Danemark and had no internet access. While driving home, I crossed Germany from north to south, including some familiar places until I crossed the French border and realised I was driving about the same route from Stuttgart to Orleans. It was quite a drive.

 

Well Skipper I knew it wasn't like you to forget. That must have been a long trip for you.
On our return trip we passed by Orleans after about 1 hr. and 40 mins. You were likely glad to get back as we were
when the screech of our tires welcomed us on to the runway at RAF Waterbeach after 7 hrs. and 50 mins.
Three of our children, Bob, Wendy and Donna, are going on a trip to France this September. They will visit Freteval
and Bob Giffin's gravesite and hopefully some of those who risked their lives helping us and many others.
Will keep in touch. Cheers Skipper of Lancaster A2 C Alex Campbell

 

We drove home from Denmark in 12 hours. This included the ferry to Germany near kiel, then going down via Hamburg, Hannover , Cologne and Aachen , then Belgium and the Bulge battlefields, eastern France from Reims and finally Orleans. This way we avoided Paris (too much traffic ) . We stopped at a USAAF crashsite in Denmark . I'd gladly meet Bob Wendy and Donna in September (if work days allow) . I'll send more details via email .

 

Hello
Thank you for your home
I found your forum by Mr Alex "Red" CAMPBELL research
I was at Saint Cloud in Dunois September 8, 2012 for the ceremony of LANCASTER A2 - C
Beautiful ceremony
Thank you Mr CAMPBELL for what you did.
Respects
Kind regards

Mike

P.S. sorry for my English not very good

 

Merci Mike and welcome to the forum.

 

Skipper ok, but we must be close to one another.
I live in Orleans

 

I'd like to thank Mr. Campbell. Sorry I missed this thread. Mr. C. is in Ontario, but you shouldn't hold that against him, lol. Best wishes from Alberta.

 

View attachment 17955
ceremony at the grave of Bob GIFFIN September 8, 2012

 

Thanks again Mike, I'm certain Alex will appreciate when he reads this.

 

Hello,

The crash site of Lancaster is about 300 feet behind
View attachment 17961

The barn where it was hidden

View attachment 17962