The Fate of Lancaster PB158
Title
The Fate of Lancaster PB158
Description
A document detailing the end of the Lancaster and its crew over Cologne, 2nd March 1945.
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two printed sheets
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
MDavyFR1108748-190530-020001, MDavyFR1108748-190530-020002
Transcription
The Fate of Lancaster PB158 CF.G The Green Goddess from RAF Kelstern on 2nd March 1945 over Cologne
[photograph]
Delivered to “A” Flight, 625 Squadron, RAF Kelstern on 15th June 1944 flown by FR Davy and his crew on 28 operations from 22nd June to 12th September 1944
Pilot F/Lt F R Davy DFC AFC, F/Eng Sgt Weller, A/B Sgt Delaney, Nav F/Sgt Moss, WOP Sgt Tyler, M/U/G Sgt Adams, R/G Sgt Lawson
The Green Goddess (Mk B.III) was one of 800 Lancasters ordered from A V Roe (Chadderton) in April 1943 of which 756 were delivered as 255 Mk B.Is and 500 Mk B.IIIs and one Lancastrian between May 1944 and March 1945 mainly from Chadderton with 87 from Yeadon. All B.IIIs with Merlin 38 engines except late production models with Merlin 224 engines.
Events over Cologne 2nd March 1945 as witnessed by F/Sgt Joe Williams (A/G) in Lancaster NG240 Fox 2 (CF.F)
[missing words]
We had now done 18 Operations. On 23rd. Feb. we had leave, I went home to Sussex for a few days on the farm. I returned to Kelstern on Wednesday 28th.Feb.
2nd.March. My first and only daylight operation, in Fox 2 we went to Cologne, time 5hrs. 25mins. It was a spendid [sic] sight, up to 1000 bombers in the air. Over the target, my first sight of the thousands of ‘Flack’ bursts, not as angry flashes of lights as we knew them at night, but as black mushrooms of smoke which continued to hang in the sky. A huge black pall amongst the ‘Flack’ bursts marked the place in the sky where a Lancaster, hit in the bomb bay had disintegrated. The aiming point was the Railway Station on the north side of the Cathedral. We turned and crossed the Rhine again, behind us I counted four Lancasters all with engines on fire. One with three engines burning was going down and I lost sight of it. I was later to learn that
[page break]
this Lancaster was a 625 Squadron aircraft ‘G2’ Serial No PB 158 and flown by F/O Downs and his crew. With the engines on fire F/O Downs decided they would have to bale out and ordered his crew to all come forward to bale out from the nose escape hatch. Having come forward none of the crew were very anxious to go and were standing in the fuselage, P/O Bob Blackley the Flight Engineer saw that the fire in the starboard inner engine had turned to a brilliant blue flame and he knew what would happen when it reached the main fuel tank. He shouted “GO” and the Bombaimer and he, jumped, as he passed under the Lancaster it exploded around them, they were the only survivors.
[a] Date [b] Target [c] A/C Dispatched [d] Losses
[a] 28 Feb [b] Neuss nr Dusseldorf German target on Western Battle Front [c] 21 [d] 1 – All A/C airborne but recalled by W/T due to proximity of Allied troops. All landed with full bomb load. One A/C believed ‘K’ P.B. 708 lost brake pressure & tripped U/C & became write-off.
[a] 1 Mar [b] Mannheim [c] 21 [d] – – 10/10ths cloud.
[a] 2 Mar [b] Cologne [c] 21 [d] 1 – F/O Downs & crew, over target hit by flack, 3 engines on fire, blew up F/E P/O Blackley & A/B F/O Bloy baled out, 5 died.
[a] 4 Mar [b] Operation Cancelled [c] – [d] –
[d] 5 Mar [b] Chemnitz [c] 21 [c] 2 [d] F/L Cook & crew, 2 dead, 5 POW. F/O Alexander & crew, on 3 engines from English coast. Shot down in Czechoslovakia, all POW’s. Sgt williams & F/O Petrachenko made successful escape.
[photograph]
Frederick Davy instructed on Airspeed Oxfords with 15 (P) AFU from 6.04.42 to 23.11.43
[photograph]
Joe Williams (left) with Percy Miller at the 625 Sq Memorial Service at Kelstern on 14th May 2006
[photograph]
Delivered to “A” Flight, 625 Squadron, RAF Kelstern on 15th June 1944 flown by FR Davy and his crew on 28 operations from 22nd June to 12th September 1944
Pilot F/Lt F R Davy DFC AFC, F/Eng Sgt Weller, A/B Sgt Delaney, Nav F/Sgt Moss, WOP Sgt Tyler, M/U/G Sgt Adams, R/G Sgt Lawson
The Green Goddess (Mk B.III) was one of 800 Lancasters ordered from A V Roe (Chadderton) in April 1943 of which 756 were delivered as 255 Mk B.Is and 500 Mk B.IIIs and one Lancastrian between May 1944 and March 1945 mainly from Chadderton with 87 from Yeadon. All B.IIIs with Merlin 38 engines except late production models with Merlin 224 engines.
Events over Cologne 2nd March 1945 as witnessed by F/Sgt Joe Williams (A/G) in Lancaster NG240 Fox 2 (CF.F)
[missing words]
We had now done 18 Operations. On 23rd. Feb. we had leave, I went home to Sussex for a few days on the farm. I returned to Kelstern on Wednesday 28th.Feb.
2nd.March. My first and only daylight operation, in Fox 2 we went to Cologne, time 5hrs. 25mins. It was a spendid [sic] sight, up to 1000 bombers in the air. Over the target, my first sight of the thousands of ‘Flack’ bursts, not as angry flashes of lights as we knew them at night, but as black mushrooms of smoke which continued to hang in the sky. A huge black pall amongst the ‘Flack’ bursts marked the place in the sky where a Lancaster, hit in the bomb bay had disintegrated. The aiming point was the Railway Station on the north side of the Cathedral. We turned and crossed the Rhine again, behind us I counted four Lancasters all with engines on fire. One with three engines burning was going down and I lost sight of it. I was later to learn that
[page break]
this Lancaster was a 625 Squadron aircraft ‘G2’ Serial No PB 158 and flown by F/O Downs and his crew. With the engines on fire F/O Downs decided they would have to bale out and ordered his crew to all come forward to bale out from the nose escape hatch. Having come forward none of the crew were very anxious to go and were standing in the fuselage, P/O Bob Blackley the Flight Engineer saw that the fire in the starboard inner engine had turned to a brilliant blue flame and he knew what would happen when it reached the main fuel tank. He shouted “GO” and the Bombaimer and he, jumped, as he passed under the Lancaster it exploded around them, they were the only survivors.
[a] Date [b] Target [c] A/C Dispatched [d] Losses
[a] 28 Feb [b] Neuss nr Dusseldorf German target on Western Battle Front [c] 21 [d] 1 – All A/C airborne but recalled by W/T due to proximity of Allied troops. All landed with full bomb load. One A/C believed ‘K’ P.B. 708 lost brake pressure & tripped U/C & became write-off.
[a] 1 Mar [b] Mannheim [c] 21 [d] – – 10/10ths cloud.
[a] 2 Mar [b] Cologne [c] 21 [d] 1 – F/O Downs & crew, over target hit by flack, 3 engines on fire, blew up F/E P/O Blackley & A/B F/O Bloy baled out, 5 died.
[a] 4 Mar [b] Operation Cancelled [c] – [d] –
[d] 5 Mar [b] Chemnitz [c] 21 [c] 2 [d] F/L Cook & crew, 2 dead, 5 POW. F/O Alexander & crew, on 3 engines from English coast. Shot down in Czechoslovakia, all POW’s. Sgt williams & F/O Petrachenko made successful escape.
[photograph]
Frederick Davy instructed on Airspeed Oxfords with 15 (P) AFU from 6.04.42 to 23.11.43
[photograph]
Joe Williams (left) with Percy Miller at the 625 Sq Memorial Service at Kelstern on 14th May 2006
Collection
Citation
“The Fate of Lancaster PB158,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed December 8, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/43540.