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Lancaster ED709 crashed Ringkøbing Fjord 21/4 1943.
The aircraft belonged to RAF 100 Sqn. Bomber Command and was coded HW-S.
T/o 21:59 Grimsby. Op: Stettin.
On the return flight from Stettin ED709 approached Ringkøbing from the east and
was hit by flak from II Zug 3/742 based in Ringkøbing.
The Lancaster continued its flight towards Holmlands Klit from where it turned
back towards Ringkøbing. At 03:28 hours it crashed in the Ringkøbing Fjord
approx. 1000 metres from the harbour.
A fire started which made it impossible to get near the crash site. When the
fire extinguished a search for survivors started, and after an hour the body of
a flyer that the Wehrmacht identified as Navigator F/Lt. Bernhard F. Myers RAAF
was found. He was laid to rest in Lemvig cemetery on 24/4-1943.
On 22/5 a flyer was found in Ringkøbing Fjord near the boundary of Velling and
Stauning parish. He was laid to rest in grave 705 in Lemvig cemetery on
28/5-1943 without being identified.
The body of Air Bomber P/O Cyril E. Wellard was found in the Fjord near Velling
church on 31/5 and was laid to rest in Lemvig cemetery on 4/6-1943.
On 21/6 the body of an unidentified flyer was found in the Fjord near
Klovmosehus in Velling parish. He was laid to rest in grave 710 in Lemvig
cemetery on 26/6-1943.
The body of the pilot Wing Cdr. James G. W. Swain M.i.D. was found in the Fjord
near Velling on 22/9 and was laid to rest in Fovrfelt cemetery in Esbjerg on
27/9-1943.
In the 1998 the remains of rear gunner Sgt Reginald A. Whellams was found and he
was laid to rest in Lemvig cemetery on 18/9-1998.
A team of Danes known as “The Denmark team” had for years been collecting
evidence to be able to convince ”The Commenwealth War Graves Commision” of the
identity of the two unknown flyers.
On the day of Whellams burial the headstones over the two unknown flyers were
changed to “Believed to be”
Flt. Engr. Sgt. Thomas Carter in grave 705 and W/Op-Air Gnr. Sgt. Roland S.
Sidwell in grave 710.
(John Carter)
Flt. Engr. Sgt. Thomas Carter
The mid upper gunner F/Sgt Marcel A.B. Watkins RAAF have no known grave and are
commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.
(Via Bob Wilton)
Sources: LBUK, RL 19/455+456, CWGC,NES, BCL, Report Ringkøbing and Lemvig
police, BE, BL.
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
Back to 1943
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