Mustang III KH460 crashed in Fælledparken, København 21/3 1945

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Mustang III KH460 crashed in Fælledparken, København 21/3 1945.

The aircraft belonged to RAF 64 Sqn. Fighter Command.
T/O 08:45 Fersfield. OP: Fighter support to Shell house attack and strafing of flak positions.

In the early afternoon of 20/3 the Mustang`s from 64 Sqn that would participate in the Shell house attack transferred from their base at Bentwater to Fersfield.

During the attack HK460 was hit by flak while flying over Københavns harbour and crashed at 11:20 hours in Fælledparken Park in København killing the pilot F/Lt David Arthur Drew DFC.

F/Lt David Arthur Drew DFC was laid to rest in København Bispebjerg cemetery on 28/3 1945.

(Ben Drew)

Pilot F/Lt David A. Drew.

Sources: FAF, LBUK, AIR 27/ 591.

Hans Elfelt Bonnesen, born in 1932, and living at Østerbro in Copenhagen in 1945 recalls the day:

Pilot Drew apparently tried to jump from his plane by parachute just prior to the crash. At any rate he did not get free from the aircraft, and was dragged by it on its descent. During this he lost his wristwatch which was found next day by a student of the dental school who was crossing the open fields of Fælledparken. The student showed his amazed classmates his "new" english wristwatch. As the corpse of pilot Drew was taken away his parachute was spread over the remains of the aircraft. I myself saw this yellow parachute and the aircraft in the evening at 7.30 pm as I accompanied my mother on an evening stroll to see the place of the crash. The spreading of the parachute over the aircraft was done by German soldiers who wanted to conceal that an allied aircraft really reached that far into Denmark. The German soldiers guarding the site pushed me and my mother back to avoid that anyone got close up to the remains. I'm still able to show within 1-2 meter where the nose of the aircraft was lying.

Attack on the Gestapo Headquarter “Shell house” 21/3 1945

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Mustang III HK460 crashed in Fælledparken, København 21/3 1945

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