Thanks to Larry Wright for part of the following infomation supplied and permission to reproduce it; and with thanks to Dean and Sandy Oakeshott for providing the above photos of EE138 with G J Oakeshott and crew. Thank you to the staff at the National Archives of Australia, Canberra, for assisting us to compile this expanded information on EE138.

Click here to view a video of a guided tour of a Lancaster Bomber - courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

The above image of Lancaster AR E2 published with permission of Malcolm Barrass 'Air of Authority' www.rafweb.org

Mr Vic Kelaher (cousin to crew member Kelaher), has written an interesting story concerning Lancasters EE138 and EE139 - "The Difference of a Digit"

Technical and historical data concerning Lancaster EE138:

Serial No:                    EE138

Mark:                           III

Air Craft Code:             AR-E2

Call Sign/Nickname:    E Easy

Delivered to:                Binbrook RAAF 460 Sqn,  May 31st 1943

Known Operations:      24

Listed  As:                    Shot Down

Date:                            04 September 1943

Target/Tasking:            Berlin

SOC/Crash Site:           Vestager, Denmark

Air Frame Time:          174 hours 30 minutes

Production Data:          Part of the fourth production batch of 620 aircraft (being the final part of Contract No. B69247 and Works Order No. 7671) built by A.V.Roe & Co. Ltd., Newton Heath, Manchester. ED303-ED334, ED347-ED396, ED408-ED453, ED467-ED504, ED520- ED569, ED583-ED631, ED645-ED668, ED688-ED737, ED749-ED786, ED799-ED842, ED856-ED888, ED904-ED953, ED967-ED999, EE105-EE150 and EE166-EE202 (135 Mk.Is, annotated; remainder Mk.III's). Deliveries commenced 11-42; completed 6-43 (average production rate 25 aircraft per week)

Service History:

4/6/43               Air Test – Sgt G J Oakeshott

21/6/43             Mission Krefeld – F/S J. D. Hocking

22/6/43             Fly Test

22/6/43             Mission Mulheim – Sgt J. Oglivie

24/6/43             Mission Wuppertal – S/L C. R. Kelaher

25/6/43             Mission Gelsenkirchen - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

28/6/43             Mission Cologne – Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

                        77 Flak hits about 20 holes nobody hurt little damage.

3/7/43               Mission Cologne – Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

7/7/43               Low Flying

8/7/43               Mission Cologne – Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

One hole port petrol tank

12/7/43             Air Test

12/7/43             Mission Turin – Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

16/7/43             Formation Cross Country

17/7/43             BombingTest

18/7/43             Squadron Stand Down

19/7/43             Air Test

24/7/43             Mission Hamburg – W/C C. E. Martin

25/7/43             Mission Essen  -  W/O R.E. Wellham

27/7/43             Mission Hamburg - W/O R.E. Wellham

29/7/43             Mission Hamburg - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

2/8/43               Mission Hamburg - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

7/8/43               Air Test

7/8/43               Mission Turin - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

10/8/43             Mission Nuremberg - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

12/8/43             Air Test

12/8/43             Mission Milan - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

14/8/43             Mission Milan - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

17/8/43             Local Flying

17/8/43             Mission Peenemunde - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

22/8/43             Mission Leverkusen near Cologne - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

23/8/43             Mission Berlin – S/L C. R. Kelaher

26/8/43             Local Flying

30/8/43             Mission Munchen – Gladbach  - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

31/8/43             Mission Berlin - Sgt G. J. Oakeshott

2/9/43               Mission Gardening – Sgt A.T.S. Collier

3/9/43               Mission Berlin – S/L C. R. Kelaher & F/O S.M. Forrester

23 Operations Completed Returning from 24th operation when lost  

Notes:

Take off 1958 Binbrook. Part of a force of 320 aircraft - 316 Lancasters, 4 Mosquitoes, tasked to attack Berlin. Pathfinders approached form the north-west on this occasion but as was the case with the raid two nights earlier their marking fell short of the target and resulted in the majority of the main force bombs falling in open country. Local reports list limited bomb damage in the districts of Charlottenburg and Moabit and record several factories as being hit which each suffered serious loss of production. To defend the force from night-fighters Mosquitoes drooped decoy fighter-flares well away from the actual route of the bombers, but no record of their effectiveness is mentioned. 22 aircraft, 6.88 percent of the force were lost - 22 Lancasters. While returning to base, the aircraft was shot down by a night-fighter and crashed 0241 into marshy ground at Vestager, 11 km's WNW of Ringkobing, Denmark. Despite an extensive search of crash area, no wreckage or bodies were recovered. The only proof of the identity of both   the crew and aircraft were the notebooks belonging to S/L Kelaher, RAAF. And F/O Forrester RAAF

Crew

S/L C.R. Kellaher, RAAF +; F/O S.M. Forrester, RAAF +; Sgt. H.F. Jowett +; W/O E.G. Carthew, RAAF +; W/O C.A. Walsh, RAAF +; Sgt. J.C. Combs +; Sgt. E.A.C. Thirkettle +; Sgt.  A. Rolfe +

Crew  Positions:

Pilot, Flight Engineer,Navigator, Bomb Aimer, Wireless Op. M/U Gunner, Rear Gunner

Legend:

No Symbol = Survived

+ = Killed, pow = Prisoner Of War, EVD = Evaded Capture, inj = Injured in Accident