Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

ClinA, sorry I am not an expert on RAF as much as I am on US planes. Not by choice, I just excavated more of them over the last 30 years :)
Matter of fact I am about to recover a Bf109E in Belgium, near Brugge.
I do thoug have a friend, who is a true expert on RAF and US planes, he astounds me frequently. Danny

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

Hi ,

Could this be the one you are looking for ?
16/01/1945
Belgium
Lancaster I
Me-262
Crew safe bailed out at 0120 uur
Zeitz Braunkohle Benzin Werke
PD-309
576Sqn
UL-W2
Fiskerton
F/O Pegg Clarence Roy ( SAFE ) RAAF 405811 - Sgt Pearson R ( SAFE )
F/O Fitzpatrick Bernhard ( SAFE ) RAAF 432144 – F/O Crameri Alfred Roy ( SAFE ) RAAF 422436 – F/S Taylor Donald ( SAFE ) RAAF 437234-
Sgt Ainzstein R. (WND) - F/S Shearer Arthur Alfred ( SAFE ) RAAF 437234

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

Hallo Alain

This Lanc crashed at Hahn SSE of Aachen VK917362

Best regards
Phil

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

I wonder Phil were you got this information from ? as I think that Alain has a point there. According to the interrogation report the crew of PD309 bailed out in the vicinity of Jodoigne while they were coming from the direction of Brussels flying towards Jodoigne. In a somewhat straight line you then cross Beauvechain or its vicinity. A long way however from Hahn, don't you think.

While just leaving Brussels on a course towards Jodoigne the pilot gave the order to abandon, which they did. One engine was on fire.

My only concern is if the aircraft indeed got as far as Jodoigne or not, because the pilot left the a/c between 1500 to 1000 ft. which is not a very high altitude, but still a considerable distance from the place were Nicolas found those pieces. And then the crashsite should have been past Jodoigne. However, since Jodoigne was the last set course, it might well have been the case that they never reached this point as far while actually bailing out. In this line of thinking you might consider PD309 as a "serious candidate" for the crashlocation which Nicolas found.

Regards,

Wim

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

Hello Wim
The information was into the RAAF archives , following the coordinated furnished on the following document.
Best regards
Phil

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

sorry , this is the documnet

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

The document is clear , but however they may have wrongly put a K in place of a J , and therefore that seems to be much more fit with the testimony .
Best regards
Phil

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

It's definitively the PD-309 !! Wrong coodinates in the RAAF document and telegram
Sorry to have put a doubt
Best regards
Phil

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

No worries Phil ;), I am only to pleased that you were able to clear this out.
Errors in old documents are frequently found, and our luxury today in this case is that we can depend on several documents to get to a clear vision.
All the best,

Wim

Re: 'NEW' UK bomber lost in Belgium?
 

Damn, I was getting ready to go to Hahn looking for the crash-site!!! Danny