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1944 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown

12 Dec 1944 · Wildpark im Grafenberger Wald, Ludenberg (Düsseldorf), Nazi Germany

Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster · Shot down by German night fighter after bombing raid on Essen

From Wickenby Aerodrome (EGNW) to Essen, Germany (target)

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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
5 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
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

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
PH-U
Onboard fatalities
5
Route
From Wickenby Aerodrome (EGNW)To Essen, Germany (target)

Approximate · Estimated position: Ludenberg, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1944 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown occurred on 12 December 1944 during World War II when an Avro Lancaster bomber of the Royal Air Force was shot down by a German Luftwaffe night fighter and crashed in the Wildpark im Grafenberger Wald, in Ludenberg, a district of Düsseldorf.

Shootdown

Shortly after dropping its bombs over Essen, the Lancaster was intercepted and shot at by a German night fighter of the I. Gruppe of NJG 11 and caught fire. It crashed near Düsseldorf. The attacking aircraft was a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (serial number 166455, call sign "Red 4") piloted by Leutnant Gustav Mohr.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1944 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown” (revision 1339298066, 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 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown
Article
1944 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown
Revision
1339298066 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q101113024
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 Grafenberg Wald Avro Lancaster shootdown" (page 80043521, revision 1339298066)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
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.