Kenneth Albert Ayres                      Updated: 15 JAN 2023

Airman: a103003.htm Surname: Ayres Init: K A Rank: F/O Service: RAF Sqdn: 153
P_link: p407.htm Plane: LAN RA526 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site: Kattegat W of Samsø
Crash_d: d120345 Buried_d: b170345 C_link: c103.htm At_Next: Tranebjerg

Den 12. marts 1945 blev LAN RA526 skudt ned ud for Samsø. Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver: "12.-13. marts 1945 (kl. 21.16). Farvandet V for Ringebjerge på Samsø (omkring her). Lancaster B. I, RA526 (P4-.1). 153 BS, 1 BG, Scampton, Lincs. (minering i Kattegat). 

16 Lancasters (se fotos) og tre Halifaxes fra 1 og 6 BG skulle denne nat kaste miner i den sydlige del af Kattegat, og tre Lancasters gik tabt. Den lille formation blev hurtigt opdaget af
det tyske radarsystem, og da de nåede frem til nedkastningsområdet blev de angrebet af en tysk Ju88 fra I/NJG 3. Kl. 21.16 skød den tyske pilot, Major Werner Husemann, den første Lancaster ned. RA526, ført af F/0 Kenneth Albert Ayres, DFC, styrtede brændende ned
ud for Samsø's vestkyst ved Ringebjerge.  - " (FT 91-9-47)

Flying Officer (Pilot) Kenneth Albert Ayres, 25 år, var søn af Albert Salter Ayres og
Evelyn Maud Ayres, South Molton, Devon; gift med Joan Elizabeth Ellen Ayres, South
Molton, United Kingdom. Hæderstegn: DFC, Distinguished Flying Cross. (Kilde: CWGC)

5 flyvere fra LAN RA526 drev ind på kysten af Samsø og blev begravet i Tranebjerg.
1 har ingen kendt grav og 1 blev krigsfange. 7 flyvere. (Se Minelægningsområder)

On 12 March 1945 LAN RA526 was shot down off Samsø. (Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes: "12.-13. March 1945 (21:16). The waters W of Ringebjerge on Samsø (about here). Lancaster B. I, RA526 (P4-.1). 153 BS, 1 BG, Scampton, Lincs. (minelaying in the Kattegat). 

This night 16 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes from 1 BG and 6 BG were to drop mines into the southern part of the Kattegat and 3 Lancasters were lost. The small formation was soon detected by the German radar system, and when they arrived at the target area they were attacked by a German Ju88 from I/NJG3. At 21:16 the German pilot Major Werner Husemann shot down the first Lancaster. RA526 piloted by F/O Kenneth Albert Ayres DFC crashed, burning, off the west coast of Samsø at Ringebjerge.  - (FT 91-9-47) (See Minelaying areas)

Flying Officer (Pilot) Kenneth Albert Ayres, 25, was the son of Albert Salter Ayres and Evelyn Maud Ayres, of South Molton, Devon, and the husband of Joan Elizabeth Ellen Ayres, of South Molton, United Kingdom. Awards: DFC, the Distinguished Flying Cross. (Source: CWGC)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 4.    

5 airmen from LAN RA526 drifted ashore and were buried in Tranebjerg Churchyard, 1 has no known grave and 1 became a POW.
See Lancaster-Wikipedia * Lancaster photos * RAF Scampton Station homepage and RAF Scampton at RAF-Lincolnshire.info.
Lancaster I RA526 P4-J took off from RAF Scampton at 17:35 on 12 MAR 1945. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) 7 airmen.