Rf531 Lincoln Bomber
My fathers step-uncle was the Flight Engineer on this plane. His name-"Bill Mason". A very experienced crew member. The information my father told me just adds to the facination, as some of it may be rumour? It goes that Bill was one of the crew who baled out of RF531 & landed in the Russian Zone & they later released his body to be repatriated for burial. I have always been facinated by the wartime photo of him & his crew just returned from a raid. He flew as a Flight Engineer in Lancasters with 106 Squadron (Metheringham) & completed at least one tour! Flying half a dozen operations in a "Centurian" Lancaster-"King Of The Air". His wartime pilot Dougie Gibbs (who apparently moved to Australia), other crew -Dougie Cramp, R. Appleyard, H. Stubbs, J.E. Charock, R.F. Birch -- Are any of these guys still around?
Like alot of men after the war Bill could not settle into "Civvy Street" & Re-inlisted, back as Aircrew. His luck finally left him & to this terrible end for a brave man-along with his comrades-who survived the war, on Lancasters, only to be shot down & killed by the Russians.