To: 145371 F/O I.G. EVANS.
50 Squadron R.A.F.
Killed in Action 22nd May 1944. (DUISBURG)
"This was his Lancaster's second sortie"
[BIOGRAPHY]
Ivor Glyndwr Evans was from 10, River View, TONYPANDY, RHONDDA, GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES. The son of Mrs E. Evans of the same address.
[HISTORICAL BACKGROUND]
This particular group brings into stark focus the real night to night situation for the crews of RAF Bomber Command during the air war on Germany. The crew's brand new Lancaster Mk1 ED797 VN-J was delivered to 50 Squadron on 15th May 1944. The aircraft was allotted to the crew of seven commanded by Pilot, P/O W.V. Amphlett which included F/O Ivor Glyndwr Evans as Navigator. Ivor Evans had been flying as navigator with William Amphlett & other crews since at least 15/16th February when they took ED588 ( "A Ton Up" 100 sortie Lancaster ) to Berlin. Amphlett's final crew had also flown ED588 on a successful raid to LOUAILLE on 7th May 1944.
The new aircraft, ED797, took part in it's first operational sortie four days later on the night of 19/20th May 1944. Take off was at 22:33 with a return at 03:38 after a successful raid on the railway marshalling yards at Tours, France. Flight duration of 5hrs 5minutes.
The aircraft's second sortie commenced the following evening of 21/22nd May with a target of DUISBURG, Germany. Take off from Skellingthorpe was at 22:47. This was to be the aircraft & crew's final sortie as the machine was hit by flak and crashed, bursting into flames near VORST, some 10 miles S/W of KREFELD. Looking at the geographical location of the crash site it would appear that the aircraft had successfully bombed the target but had been hit by flak while passing over the Duisburg area. The pilot would have immediately turned the damaged aircraft to starboard and onto a reciprocal homeward heading which took it over Krefeld, but as nobody managed to bail out it was clearly in a state of rapid decent and probably out of control as it approached Vorst.
The total airframe time for this Lancaster was barely 7 hours.To put this type of early loss into perspective it's useful to consider just the financial costs of the loss of one single LANCASTER bomber and it's crew in WW11.
COST OF CREW TRAINING: (7 men at £10,000 each). £70,000
COST TO FUEL, ARM & BOMB (For each sortie £13,000) £13,000
COST OF THE AIRCRAFT. (For each Lancaster ). £50,000
A GRAND TOTAL COST OF: £133,000 in 1944
Equivalent Value in 2017 = £1,850.000 for each lost aircraft.
The entire crew were lost and are Remembered with Eternal Honour at
REICHSWALD FOREST WAR CEMETERY. GERMANY.
F/O W.V. Amphlett. (Pilot)
Sgt, H. Snowling. 22 from South Shields.(Flight Engineer)
F/O, I.G. Evans. (Navigator)
F/O, D.A. Bacon. (Bomb Aimer)
F/S, G. Jagger. 30 from York.(Wireless Operator)
Sgt, A.N. Blenkarn. (Mid-Upper Gunner)
Sgt, D.R. Oliver. 20 from Bermondsey, London. (Rear Gunner)
"PER ARDVA AD ASTRA" ........Lest We Forget.
Complete with original box of issue addressed to mother. Also includes original issue slip and named condolence letter. Also several squadron ops record sheets including the last three sorties for this crew.
A Poignant Lancaster Officer Casualty to a Brave & Valiant Welshman.
SOLD