Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

Hello!
During my work on the end of the war in 1945 in my homeland (Dötlingen/Niedersachsen) I came across a plane crash of an Allied plane near Birkenbusch/Dötlingen (about 40 km southwest of Bremen) in April 1945.
The aircraft was a single-seat English fighter aircraft. The exact date was April 4, 1945. The pilot was buried at the crash site and later reburied. A memorial stone was set up at the crash site.
Can anyone help?

Thank you very much
Karsten

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

Perhaps a possibility would be F/O PETER ASHFORTH HALLIWELL (163147), a new pilot in 274 squadron. He was flying Tempest V NV660 and was lost in the area of "Bremen" on April 4, 1945. That day the squadron flew two armed recce's in what they called the "Northern Area". They were attacking trains and during one attack Halliwell flew so low he struck a locomotive and supposedly knocked it off the tracks. His plane disintegrated. That description of the crash might help rule him "in or out" as a possibility.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/fi...H%20HALLIWELL/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...orth-halliwell

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

The “Birkenbusch” forest is right next to the Bremen-Osnabrück railway line.

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

Is there anything else I can learn about the pilot and the crash?

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

Halliwell took off at 13:15 along with Frederick Wallace Mossing. Mossing returned at 15:10, so the crash occurred in the early afternoon.

(Mossing was killed during a training flight on 12 May, 1945.)

You mentioned a memorial stone at the crash site. What does it say? Do you have a picture?

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

You could ask in the German speaking "Forum der Wehrmacht"
www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de
There are some specialists activ in the forum with some good knowledge about airplane crashes on German territory.
Best regards
Rolf

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

Two residents told me that there was a stone there. I'm still looking for the exact spot (in the forest).

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

I wonder if the stone was placed closer to the tracks possibly where the locomotive crashed. There is a small "wooded" area on both sides of the track at this location:

52 57 10.9 North, 08 26 08.7 East

52.953014349487255 North, 8.435752763880485 East

https://www.google.com/maps/place/52...43!4d8.4357528


Halliwell had joined the squadron in late March flying his first mission on March 22.

Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

The Birkenbusch forest is still very large today (white border). In 1945 it was even bigger (yellow border). If the stone was in the area of the yellow border, it could have been disposed of later. That's why I turned to the newspaper. Maybe there is a request in the newspaper for help.



Re: Plane Crash Dötlingen April 4, 1945
 

I should have looked more carefully at the link I gave earlier:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/fi...H%20HALLIWELL/

in particular at the 2 items listed under “Concentration” toward the bottom of the page (scroll down).

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/fi.../#&gid=2&pid=2

They are two copies of the same thing but the last column of the sheet indicates the previous location of gave. This gives the location where the body of Halliwell was found. Note it says:

“Isolated grave near BRETTORF, GSGS 4416 1/100.000, Sht M 3, MR 472854. “

At the top of the sheet it gives the current location of the grave (in Rheinberg Cemetery) as:
MR A 185264.

The co-ordinates they are giving are based on a grid system explained on this website:
http://www.echodelta.net/mbs/eng-welcome.php
The locations are in the “Nord de Guerre Zone Grid”. A little confusion on the way they are giving the leading letters, but Rheinberg Cemetery is at rA185264 and the original grave location near Brettorf is at rW472854. Using the translator (which gives locations within 150 to 1000 meters of actual location) we get a location of 52.96261N, 8.43891E (which is right in the middle of a field).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/52...6261!4d8.43891


If we can locate a copy of the actual map they were using (GSGS 4416 1/100.000, Sht M 3) we might do a little better on the location on the original grave.

Here might be a map to use: http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/am...-bremen-m3.jpg