1944 Ålvand RAF Lancaster crash
RAF No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, No. 582 Squadron Avro Lancaster and Luftwaffe Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, Squadron 4 Junkers Ju 88 · Allied bomber shot down by German night fighter
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 7 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 3
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Aircraft 1 · Avro Lancaster
- Aircraft type
- Avro LANCASTER
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Serial PB202, Markings 60-E
- Onboard fatalities
- 7
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From RAF Little Staughton, Cambridgeshire, EnglandTo Intended to bomb Stettin and Königsberg
Aircraft 2 · Junkers Ju 88
- Aircraft type
- Junkers JU-88
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 3
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Not stated
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The Ålvand Allied bomber crash refers to the shooting down of the Allied Avro Lancaster PB202 by a German night fighter over the small lake Ålvand, in the heathland east of Nørre Vorupør, Thy, Denmark, on the night of 29 August 1944. All of the seven crew were killed.
Background
On 29 August 1944, at 2110 English time (2210 Danish time), a total of 402 RAF planes, including the Lancaster in question, took off for a bombing raid towards Stettin and Königsberg. The planned route passed over northern Denmark, then continued over Sweden and Germany; it returned the same way. 23 of the aircraft were ultimately lost.
It was previously thought that the downed bomber was first hit on its return flight by anti-aircraft artillery at Lyngby Battery, located on the coast ~10 km south of Vorupør, Thy. However, later investigation showed that the bomber was instead first hit on its outbound flight by shots fired from a radar-equipped German night fighter over Lodbjerg (slightly further south on the Danish west coast). The bomber was executing a course change from north east to east by south-east at the time, in order to proceed to the Kullen region of Scania. The night fighter was probably scrambled following the bomber being detected by several German radar installations in Denmark. A small Wassermann-S radar at Thyborøn (on the coast south of Ålvand) pinged the Lancaster on the night of the crash, as did an installation at Hjardemål (inland, to the north-east).
The crash
After being shot by the night fighter, the Lancaster banked. It likely passed over Lyngby Battery as it did so, taking further damage from the artillery there. In flames and rapidly losing height, it passed low over the farm Udemark by Førby Lake, 2 km east of Nørre Vorupør. It glanced off a dune and struck the ground violently next to the small lake Ålvand; it is believed the crew were attempting to ditch into the lake. All of the crew were killed on impact.
At the crash site, five large holes created by the bomber's four engines and the fuselage itself remain today.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1944 Ålvand RAF Lancaster crash” (revision 1301299594, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1944 Ålvand RAF Lancaster crash
- Revision
- 1301299594 · 2025-07-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q12301103
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1944 Ålvand RAF Lancaster crash" (page 65030460, revision 1301299594)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities plus ground fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.