Part 1 Supercharger Casing (No.1 Pg 3 Relics)

This is a substantial piece of the supercharger casing from one of JB 659's Packard Merlin's. This is a large piece measuring  approximately 450mm by 250 mm.

Part 4 Crank Case (No.4 Pg 3 Relics)

This is part of the crank case  from one of JB 659's Packard Merlin's. This  piece has  wood embedded in it presumably where it made contact with the farm house. You can clearly see where the piston liner attaches.

Measures 250 mm by 250 mm.

(No.33 Pg 3 Relics)

Click on picture to enlarge

£35

JB 659 was a Mk III Avro Lancaster of 97 Squadron, and in January 1944 was stationed at RAF Bourn.

Mk III Lancaster

At precisely ten past five, on the afternoon of January 30th 1944, JB659 took off from Bourn airfield as part of a mass bombing raid on Berlin.

The Lancaster was fuelled up for a possible 2000 mile round trip, and carried a bomb load of five two-thousand pound bombs, as well as marker flares.

There were seven crew on board:

Pilot Officer Allan Robert Hart, 22, RAAF
WO.II Gordon Ivan Williams, 21, RCAF
Sgt. Leslie Clifton, 24, RAF(VR)
Sgt. Douglas F. Hicks, 24, RAF(VR)
Sgt. Williarn Joseph .Tones, 21, RAF(VR)
F/Sgt. Charles M. Price, 30, RCAF
F/Sgt. . Harold T. Boal, 20, RAAF

You can see details of the recovery on this link Pictures and details of the crew and the operation can be found on this link.Video of the complete story link History of 97 Squadron Link

The Lancaster headed out over the Norfolk coast to rendezvous with aircraft drawn from other airfields in the N. East. The armada then crossed the German coast just south of the border with Denmark before heading south-east to the target area. Several aircraft fell prey to the German air defences on the way out.  JB659 survived and completed her mission. The pilot turned onto a heading to take the Lancaster on the first leg of the journey back to Bourn, a journey which, tragically, was not to be completed.

As the aircraft neared the Dutch coast, a Messerschmitt night-fighter dived out of the night sky and attacked the bomber. The Lancaster stood no chance against the firepower and superior manoeuvrability of the Messerschmitt, and the encounter ended when the cockpit of the Lancaster was blasted away from the fuselage and hurtled down to earth, taking the bodies of the pilot and the bomb aimer with it.

The remainder of the plane, with two of the four engines still running, crashed in flames onto a farmhouse, some five miles south of Amsterdam, killing the farmer and his family.

The bodies of Allan Hart and Gordon Williams were recovered bv the Germans, and buried in the local cemetery at Zwanenburg, where the graves are now cared for by Rosalind Emerson, a Norfolk lady now living in Holland. The bodies of the Dutch family were also recovered and buried at Zwanenburg. The other five members of the crew of JB659 were however buried deep inside the fuselage at the crash site, and had remained so for some 57 years.

Plans were in hand to build a marina, and as the work involved the site of the 1944 crash, a Royal Dutch Airforce Salvage Team was called to excavate the wreckage and recover the remains of the five airmen.After consultations with known relatives, it was decided to bury the five crewmen in a shared grave next to their comrades in the cemetery at Zwanenburg.

The following parts are from  JB659's Packard Merlin 28's.

After the recovery packs of pieces of wreckage from Lancaster JB659 shot down over Holland were sold off the to raise funds to allow for an appropriate display of the wreckage of JB-659. I  did not buy these parts directly from the original source but they were supplied to me from a trusted contact who purchased them directly from the original source.

This is a piece of the inlet tube from one of JB 659's Packard Merlin's which sits on top of the engine and carry's fuel mix from the supercharger to the inlet manifold.

Measures 300 mm by160 mm.

Click on pictures to enlarge