Loss of Howard's crew

                                    Loss of  Lancaster III   LM 482    "K"  KC-Q  5 Group

                                    crashed between Efringen / Kirchen (near A5 ) 

Pilot        F/Lt   C.J.G.Howard  ,buried Dürnbach     Cemetery, Germany

F/E         P/Off  F.C.Hawkins    ,buried Dürnbach     Cemetery, Germany

NAV        F/Lt.   T.J.Tate         , buried Dürnbach     Cemetery, Germany

Bomb-    P/Off E.A.Hartley     , buried Dürnbach ,                   Germany

R/O        P/Off R.D.Lucan       , buried Dürnbach ,                   Germany

Front G  P/Off D.T.Watkins     , buried Dürnbach ,                   Germany

M/U   G  W/O  P.E.Woods       , buried Dürnbach ,                   Germany

Rear G   F/Sgt H.G.Clarke          "                   "                 "      

Howard's LM 482 Lancaster at Woodhall Spa Oct 7,1944

The Lancaster Mk.III, LM.482, KC  Q, which was flown by F / Lt Christopher Howard as

part of low level force led by Tait started his attack after Wyness , failed to drop his Tallboy on the first approach due to a hungup bomb therefore he elected a second run over the target which forced his to fly over Weil Am Rhein 37/VII Heimat Flak Batterie which in addition to light flak guns also used 88 mm guns  ( see bombing plot chart ).

On his second approach to the barrage, his Lancaster was repeatedly hit by the flak
and caught immediately fire in the rear fuselage and near wings root . Although Howard tried an emergency landing, the Lancaster exploded over the treetops and crashed a short time later between Efringen and Kirchen, near the Rhine 2 miles NNE of the target. With
great certainty they had no possibility to drop their Tallboy. F/O Watkins who was not a regular crew and was flying as extra gunner on that flight  

Heimat Flak bunker 37/VII Weil Am Rhein from which Howard acft was hit  

The exploding wreckage of F/ Lt Howard's Lancaster, which had crashed near 
Efringen Kirchen shook the region with a massive detonations at 17:23 pm and
a thick black column of smoke rose up. The blast wave caused several windows 
to burst in Basel Kleinhüningen sector .

Howard and his 7 crew members remains were reinterred on 11 August 1948 
from the cemetery of Weil Am Rhein the intermediate burial place to their final
resting place in Durnbach War Cemetery near Bad Tolz in Bavaria. As into the 
exact crash site there numerous leads which do not match the initial reports ,
however, the place of crash should be approximately at the height of Efringen 
Kirchen and in the area of ​​today's A 5 Motorway. 

 Crash site Efringen Kirchen (Oct 21,2018) based on info from local residents

Christopher Howard's older brother, Major Mark Howards of the Coldstream Guards, had died in Normandy just a few months earlier.
 https://www.castlehoward.co.uk/DB/whats-on-homepage-7/keep-the-home-fires-burning

 Crash Site

F/Lt.Howard Grave

 

F/L T.J. Tate Grave (Nav)

 

P/O  R.D.Luncan Grave (R/O)

 

F/L Howard was the third son of the Hon. Geoffrey William Algernon Howard. P/O Lucan had served previously with 207 Sqdn and details of his DFM were gazetted 14 Sep 1943. The last three named were flying as Air Gunners, F/O Watkins being ex-50 Sqdn, his DFC being gazetted as recently as 19 Sep 1944. "Kit" Howard came from 17 OTU in February 1944.Richard Lucan also arrived from 17 OTU.

Sources :

617 Sqd Ops Details

Howard Castle UK

RAF Archives