Airwar over Denmark

Airwar over Denmark

 By Søren C. Flensted

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Stirling III BF476 crash-landed at Kragelund Fælled North of Vejle on 21/4 1943.


The aircraft belonged to RAF 10 Sqn. Bomber Command and was coded LS-P.
T/O 22:30 Mildenhall OP: Rostock.


On the return flight from Rostock, BF476 was attacked by a German Bf 110 night fighter from 10/NJG 3 controlled by the radar station Faun based on the Northern part of Fyn.
It was piloted by Oberleutnant Hermann Müller with the crew of Feldwebel Kostädt and Unteroffizier Witt.

The Stirling was hit seriously and Pilot F/Lt Charles S. Lyons had to do a wheels up landing at 03:26 hours in a field belonging to Kristen Hansen on Kragelund Fælled.



During the landing the rear turret with the rear gunner in it was thrown clear of the aircraft.
All survived the landing including the tail gunner Sgt Maurice C. Hugget who had been wounded by a splinter in his right thigh during the aerial combat.
 




W/Op Sgt Richard P. Howland had been hit by a shot in one foot and had a slight burn in the face. The rest of the crew who were all unhurt were Navigator Sgt Janus R. Marshall, Air Bomber P/O Roy Lockwood, Air Gunner Sgt John Shaw and Flt Engr Sgt Hugh W. Hipwell.

The airmen knocked on the door by Kristen Hansen’s farm and were let in. Doctor Bense, Løsning was called to treat the wounds of the airmen.
After this the airmen left the house to go and set fire to the aircraft. They opened the fuel drains and fired a pistol a couple of times before it ignited and a fire started.
Six of the airmen left the farm and walked in a North Eastern direction.
The wounded Sgt Howland stayed at the farm, and was later taken to the hospital in Vejle by an ambulance.
After a short while Hugget had to give up following his friends, and at 06:15 hours he was arrested by two Danish policemen on the main road at Kragelund. They brought him to Doctor Bense in Løsning where he was treated for his wounds and given a dose of Morphine. At 17:10 he was admitted into the Hospital for Vejle County and City.
The rest of the crew sheltered in a barn when dawn came.
In the evening at 22:00 hours they left and followed a course to the North until next morning, when they hid in a barn belonging to a farmer in Vinten Kjær. At 13:30 they left their hiding and approached the farmer and asked for food.
The farmer sent for the police, and the airmen were arrested and brought to the police station in Horsens.

Hipwell, Marshall, Lyons, Shaw, Lockwood


At 17:00 hours a squad of Luftwaffe soldiers from Ry airfield arrived and the airmen were handed over to the German officer in command.


 


        (Via Erik Andersen)

 


    (Via Erik Andersen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Sources: Report Vejle police, LBUK, RL 19/455+456+472, AS 35-139.
 

The night of 20/21 April 1943

Halifax II JB930 crash landed near Esbjerg 20/4-1943

Lancaster III ED620 crashed near Stadil 20/4-1943

Lancaster III ED614 crashed Vester Vedsted 21/4-1943

Unknown Lancaster crashed Strandgården farm, Halskov 21/4-1943

Stirling III BK714 crashed Tarp, Esbjerg 21/4-1943

Stirling III BF508 crashed in Fænøsund on 21/4 1943

Halifax II DT747 crashed Hjertingvej road in Sædding, Esbjerg 21/4-1943

Lancaster III ED557 believed crashed Store Bælt 21/4-1943

Stirling I R9261 crashed by Kongsmark on 21/41943

Halifax II HR722 crashed Store Bælt off Drøsselbjerg Klint 21/4-1943

Halifax II HR712 crashed Store Bælt near Slipshavn 21/4-1943

Stirling III BF463 crashed in Store Bælt off Halskov on 21/4 1943

Lancaster III ED818 crashed Vresen Ø 21/4-1943

Stirling III BF506 shot down by Bøgballe on 21/4 1943

Lancaster I W4330 crashed Vestbirk 21/4-1943

Halifax II HR714 crashed in the tidal area off the island of Mandø 21/4 1943.

Stirling III BK698 shot down over The North Sea on 21/4 1943

Stirling III BF476 crash-landed at Kragelund Fælled North of Vejle on 21/4 1943

Lancaster ED709 crashed Ringkøbing Fjord 21/4 1943

 

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