1944 Ålvand RAF Lancaster crash

Incident in WWII in Denmark Shootdown Allied bomber shot down by German night fighter 1944 08 29 Ålvand,east of Nørre Vorupør,Thy,Denmark 56 56 39.21 N 8 25 5.78 E type:landmark_region:DK inline,title Avro Lancaster RAF Little Staughton,Cambridgeshire,England Intended to bomb Stettin and Königsberg RAF No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group,No. 582 Squadron Lanc2adj2.JPG Avro Lancaster in flight Serial PB202Markings 60-E 7 7 0 Junkers Ju 88 Luftwaffe Nachtjagdgeschwader 3,Squadron 4 Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-363-2258-11, Flugzeug Junkers Ju 88 (cropped).jpg Junkers Ju 88 in flight 3 0 3 0 The Ålvand Allied bomber crash refers to the shooting down of the Allied Avro Lancaster PB202 by a German night fighter over the small lake Ålvand, in the heathland east of Nørre Vorupør, Thy, Denmark, on the night of 29 August 1944. All of the seven crew were killed. Allieret flystyrt ved Ålvandet Danish Allied plane crash at Ålvand Michael Andersen Erik 2004 Historisk Årbog for Thy og Vester Hanherred Lokalhistorisk Arkiv for Thisted Kommune Thisted http://arkivthy.dk/images/Aarbog/2004/Andersen,%20Erik%20Michael%20-%20Allieret%20flystyrt%20ved%20%C3%85lvandet.pdf 2020-08-17 Background On 29 August 1944, at 2110 English time (2210 Danish time), a total of 402 RAF planes, including the Lancaster in question, took off for a bombing raid towards Stettin and Königsberg. The planned route passed over northern Denmark, then continued over Sweden and Germany; it returned the same way. 23 of the aircraft were ultimately lost. Bomber Command Campaign Diary: August 1944 http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/aug44.html https://web.archive.org/web/20110606110513/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/aug44.html 2011-06-06 RAF History 2005-04-06 2020-08-21 AL Farrington http://www.211squadron.org/al_farrington.html Clark D No. 211 Squadron RAF 2015-07-31 2020-08-20 It was previously thought that the downed bomber was first hit on its return flight by anti-aircraft artillery at Lyngby Battery, located on the coast ~10km south of Vorupør, Thy. However, later investigation showed that the bomber was instead first hit on its outbound flight by shots fired from a radar-equipped German night fighter over Lodbjerg (slightly further south on the Danish west coast). The bomber was executing a course change from north east to east by south-east at the time, in order to proceed to the Kullen region of Scania. The night fighter was probably scrambled following the bomber being detected by several German radar installations in Denmark. A small Wassermann-S radar at Thyborøn (on the coast south of Ålvand) pinged the Lancaster on the night of the crash, as did an installation at Hjardemål (inland, to the north-east). The bomber The Lancaster was part of RAF No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, No. 582 Squadron and was based at RAF Little Staughton. Plane 363 LAN PB202 - Førby Hede (Heath) https://www.airmen.dk/p363.htm Straarup Anders AirmenDK 2017-02-02 2020-08-15 It was used as a Pathfinder aircraft, which were responsible for marking targets for other bombers using flares and incendiary weapons. The crash After being shot by the night fighter, the Lancaster banked. It likely passed over Lyngby Battery as it did so, taking further damage from the artillery there. In flames and rapidly losing height, it passed low over the farm Udemark by Førby Lake, 2km east of Nørre Vorupør. It glanced off a dune and struck the ground violently next to the small lake Ålvand; it is believed the crew were attempting to ditch into the lake. All of the crew were killed on impact. At the crash site, five large holes created by the bomber's four engines and the fuselage itself remain today. The German aircraft and crew The German aircraft was a Junkers Ju 88 night fighter from Luftwaffe Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, Squadron 4, piloted by the fighter ace Unteroffizier (Corporal) Bruno Rupp. Two other crew members, by the names of Eckert and Biell, were also aboard. Rupp engaged the Lancaster from a height of 3600m, and it became his 11th shootdown of the war. Flensted Søren Lancaster III PB202 crashed at Førby Hede heath 30/8 1944. Airwar over Denmark http://www.flensted.eu.com/1944122.shtml 2010-08-17 In total, Rupp would later reach 16 confirmed shootdowns. Axis History Factbook: Fighter aces of the Luftwaffe Axis History http://axishistory.com/index.php?id=7886 https://web.archive.org/web/20121116145512/http://axishistory.com/index.php?id=7886 2012-11-16 2006-04-17 Wendel Marcus Bomber crew and burial + Crew of the downed Avro Lancaster Lancaster PB202 [Royal Air Force Aircraft Serial and Image Database] http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=PB202 Royal Air Force Commands 2020-08-15 Service number Rank Name Flight role Age / years Allegiance Nationality Decorations 40046 Squadron Leader Allan L. Farrington Pilot 29 x20px Royal Air Force Australian J/9481 Flight Lieutenant Alfred C. Strout 1st Navigator unknown x20px Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian J/13758 Flight Lieutenant Lorne V. Tyndale 2nd Navigator unknown x20px Royal Canadian Air Force Canadian 56185 Pilot Officer Henry Silverwood Wireless OperatorGunner 24 x20px Royal Air Force English x20px Distinguished Flying Medal 1576847 Flight Sergeant Douglas E. J. Stevens Gunner 20 x20px Royal Air Force English 169048 Flying Officer Charles F. Stewart Gunner 22 x20px Royal Air Force Northern Irish x20px Distinguished Flying Medal 53275 Flying Officer George R. Bradley Flight Engineer 23 x20px Royal Air Force English x20px Distinguished Flying Medal The killed airmen were initially buried in the heathland at the site of the crash by the German Wehrmacht. A white wooden cross was raised at the grave by German soldiers, with text (in German) reading "Hier ruhen 7 unbekannte anglo amerik. Flieger 29.8.1944" (English: "Here lie 7 unknown Anglo-Americans. Airmen, 29.8.1944"). Nætter i august 1944 : Bomber Commands angreb på Kiel, Stettin og Königsberg i august 1944 og Luftwaffes modforanstaltninger Danish Nights in August 1944 : Bomber Command's raids on Kiel, Stettin and Königsberg in August 1994 and the Luftwaffe's countermeasures Pedersen Carsten 2001 Bollerup Boghandel Ringkøbing 87-89155-50-5 On 3 February 1947, British authorities exhumed the bodies, placed them in coffins, and re-buried them at Vorupør Cemetery. The same plot also contains the remains of an unidentified British soldier, who was washed ashore on the beach near Nørre Vorupør in Autumn 1944. He was initially buried on the shore by the Wehrmacht and was then, following the German surrender, exhumed and moved to the churchyard by locals on 14 June 1945. Faldne allierede flyvere 1939-1945 Danish Fallen allied airmen 1939-1945 Bjørnvad Anders 1995 Odense Universitetsforlag Odense 87-7838-086-3 Nørre Vorupør Vestre Kirkegård - Cemetery https://www.airmen.dk/c065.htm Straarup Anders AirmenDK 2017-02-06 2020-08-21 Descriptions by locals It remains uncertain exactly which bombs were carried by the Lancaster, but it is clear that it released three bombs over the farm meadows at Koustrup Møllegaard, Sønderhå (approximately 10km south by south-east of Ålvand) prior to the crash. The bombs, which were probably photoflash bombs, caused damage to buildings in the area. Locals described an intense flash that temporarily turned night to day, followed by a loud bang and shaking. After the Lancaster was hit, the crew would have had good reason to eject any ordnance over a sparsely populated area, partly to prevent civilian casualties but also to minimise the chance of the crew being killed by explosions if the aircraft was to crash. The photoflashes left several craters at Koustrup Møllegaard; during subsequent summers, workers at the farm were tasked with filling in the holes when there was no other work to be carried out. Agnes Møller (born 1909), who lived on the farm at the time, wrote of the bombs in her memoirs: Bedstemors erindringer : en thybokvindes minder fra næsten hundrede år Danish Grandma's recollections : a Thy lady's memories from almost one hundred years Møller Agnes Møller Gudrun Margrethe 2012 Cornelia 978-87-7114-529-8 It was a strange experience. We went down to the bomb shelter. I was carried down there in a duvet they had tied around me. It was only in the morning that we understood how lucky we had been, in that the farmhouse itself hadn't been hit. It was bad enough. Ninety windows were broken. The two uppermost windows in the gable end of the farmhouse were hanging down just outside where my [paternal] Aunt slept. She came down to us, very scared. The stove [masonry heater] in the dining room lay spread out all over the floor and the lamp, which was attached to a plaster ring, hung down over the table in the sitting room from a thin thread, ring and all. The whole farmhouse had taken a serious shaking, so later on the plaster ceilings fell down all over the place, and the bands that held the roof tiles were either hanging loose or had broken. We found that out later. We got DKK 1700 in compensation, but of course that wasn't sufficient at all because the damage kept appearing. In Nørre Vorupør, locals reported an enormous ball of light so brilliant that "you could see a matchstick in the gravel". References Category:Accidents and incidents involving Royal Air Force aircraft Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Denmark Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1944