What was the british bomber lost april/may 1943 Baltic Sea?

[offshore]

What was the british bomber lost in end of april/ beginning of may 1943 off Leba, Pommern, Baltic Sea? The plane was involved in mining operation on Baltic Sea.After shut down by Germans, they try to salvage the bomber, but one of the the mine that was still inside the plane exploded and sank the salvage ship.

 

[mhuxt]

Are you sure it wasn't April 1944? Nine Lancasters were lost on a minelaying operation off Gdynia, Danzig and Pillau on 9/10 April 1944. The furthest east the minelayers got in April / May 1943 was the straits around Denmark, according to the Bomber Command War Diary.

There certainly seems to have been a mine offensive in that part of the Baltic in April 44:

Seekrieg 1944, April

 

[offshore]

Absolutely sure it was 1943. The salvage operation started on 5-th of May 1943, to salvage a british plane that was shot down a few days ago. So the plane was shut down end of April/beginning of May 1943. During the salvage operation exploded mine that probably was still in the fuselage.

 

[mhuxt]

Absolutely sure it was 1943. The salvage operation started on 5-th of May 1943, to salvage a british plane that was shot down a few days ago. So the plane was shut down end of April/beginning of May 1943. During the salvage operation exploded mine that probably was still in the fuselage.

There's a report for the mining op of 28/29 April here:

Night Raid Reports-28/29 April 1943

I'm not sure of what is meant by Baltic ports as a target, but as Baltic ports are lumped in with the Cadet channel, my guess was that they were Rostock and the like.

However on closer inspection there are references in the to the Gulf of Danzig and the Eastern Baltic, perhaps it was a target after all, though not specified. There were twenty-three losses on the mine-laying op, the highest of any such op to that point in the war.

 

[offshore]

Looks like the plane I'm looking for is Lancaster of Group 1 - target was baltic port Gdynia. Two Lanc's of this group were missing.
Thanks mhuxt!

 

[mhuxt]

No worries, guess I should have scrolled down a little further when I first looked at that report. Chorley's "Bomber Command Losses" will have the serial numbers and crews of the two missing 1 Group Lancs, though I don't have a copy.