sam - remains of an Avro Lancaster propellor [1 of 2]

Quite a sad story, unfortunately one that was very common in wartime, details taken from the info card.

Remains of a propeller from a Merlin powered Avro Lancaster W4947, which crashed on 18th July 1943. It was trawled up by "Girl Pat" in 1995 off St Bees, and retrieved from Whitehaven by SAM.

W4947 was in 156 Squadron [pathfinder] and took part in six raids over Germany in 1943. After some technical difficulties she went to a Maintenance Unit and then back to RAF Winthorpe.
Her last flight was a night navigation training, leaving at 23:55 on 17th July 1943.
It has been assumed that she flew south along the coast, but got so low that she clipped the surface and crashed with the loss of all the crew. [RIP].