Brocklesby Lancaster Memorial

The night of 3/4 March 1945 was one of the most extraordinary and little-known episodes of the air war. F/O Jack Ryan, a 33-year-old Australian, took off from RAF Spilsby at 18:42 to join 212 Lancasters attacking the Ladbergen aqueducts on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The raid was successful — over 100 metres of canal bank destroyed, both aqueducts in ruins. But as the bombers turned for home, something unprecedented happened. The Luftwaffe launched Operation Gisela: approximately 200 German night fighters followed the bomber stream back across the North Sea and prowled the skies over eastern England, attacking bombers as they approached their home airfields with navigation lights on and undercarriages down. It was a reversal of every established tactic. At 01:00 hours, with Lincolnshire spread out below and safety minutes away, a Ju88C found Lancaster ME442. The German pilot attacked, and the Lancaster crashed into Grannington Park on the Brocklesby Estate, among ancient trees. All seven crew were killed.