The Lancaster Crash near Heislum, Friesland, The Netherlands
Title
The Lancaster Crash near Heislum, Friesland, The Netherlands
The loss of John Reddish's Lancaster
Description
An account of the loss of Lancaster ED589, shot down over Holland while on an operation to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia.
The document gives details of the target and number of aircraft involved, the date and time and a list of all seven crew members that were killed. It describes the small farming community where it crashed, the damage caused by the large explosion and the discovery of the bodies of the two air gunners, thrown clear of the wreckage. The other five bodies were not found.
Also described is the loss of another Lancaster and Halifax and the death of the Luftwaffe pilot, Oberleutnant Linke, thought to be responsible for all three.
Some of the wreckage was recovered by the Germans and the large hole left behind was filled the following year, though the site could still be seen 50 years later.
Many years after the war, parts of the Lancaster were still coming to the surface. The author found one of the propellers in 1984 and became more interested in the story, locating relatives of some of the crew. The local population still commemorate the loss of these and other RAF personnel every November.
The document gives details of the target and number of aircraft involved, the date and time and a list of all seven crew members that were killed. It describes the small farming community where it crashed, the damage caused by the large explosion and the discovery of the bodies of the two air gunners, thrown clear of the wreckage. The other five bodies were not found.
Also described is the loss of another Lancaster and Halifax and the death of the Luftwaffe pilot, Oberleutnant Linke, thought to be responsible for all three.
Some of the wreckage was recovered by the Germans and the large hole left behind was filled the following year, though the site could still be seen 50 years later.
Many years after the war, parts of the Lancaster were still coming to the surface. The author found one of the propellers in 1984 and became more interested in the story, locating relatives of some of the crew. The local population still commemorate the loss of these and other RAF personnel every November.
Creator
Date
1993-10-03
Language
Format
One four-page document
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
MReddishJ1211258-161121-010001, MReddishJ1211258-161121-010002, MReddishJ1211258-161121-010003, MReddishJ1211258-161121-010004
Collection
Citation
Wim J. Stienstra, “The Lancaster Crash near Heislum, Friesland, The Netherlands,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed October 16, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/49915.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.