Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

Hello all,

I am looking for some assistance on the above request please, and hope some of our Dutch colleagues especially can help.

Whitley P4955 'ZA-G' of 10 Squadron RAF was damaged by flak over Leuna during the night of 16/17 August 1940. It was crash-landed near Breda in the Netherlands. I have seen two particular towns or villages mentioned, Zevenbergen 12 km north-west of Breda and Rijsbergen 10 km. south-west of Breda. Which is correct, as both are some distance apart ?

I have come across three photos of P4955 after it was crash-landed using Google but no caption to help. I also have checked a good website on aircraft crashes in the Netherlands but unfortunately cannot open the page on P4955, assuming there is one to open.

Any assistance appreciated.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

Re: Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

The plane crashed at/near Rijsbergen. This link has some photos of the plane and also a declaration by the "Burgemeester" of Rijsbergen that any residents of Rijsbergen with any information about the evading crew should come forward. Text associated with one of the photos mentions that the Germans in a radio broadcast mentioned the other town. It is not clear why they did.


https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/zoekre...%5D=Rijsbergen


I ran across another link here (in Dutch, but Google gives an option to translate into English: https://www.bhic.nl/thread/view/page/8086/1?serviceUrl=
The link describes both the Whitley crash and another crash that occurred in 1944 of an American bomber "at the same place as the English plane crash"

Search for P4955 to get to the start of the Whitley crash. The American crash follows it. If the translation is working correctly, I think the crashes occurred at/near at place/location called "Tiggeltseberg". That name comes up on Google maps here, so "maybe" that is the crashsite.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/%2...095!4d4.665276

The second crash is for B-17G, 43-38531, 100th BG, lost 7 Oct 1944. MACR 9562.

Re: Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

Hello,

Was this the site you couldn't open?

https://www.verliesregister.studiegr...rea=&airfield=

Pilot: 39677 F/O William Maxwell NIXON RAF (later DFC., of NZ) - PoW.

Col.

Re: Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

Rolland,

Many thanks for your help. Those are the connections I needed to prove it was Rijsbergen. The additional photos and information are very useful. A lot more detail than I was expecting.

Col,

Thanks for the link. I had forgotten about that website. The one I found was at; https://www.airwar4045.nl/

Regards and thanks again gentlemen.

Martin.

Re: Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

Martin, one additional bit about the B-17 crash. Two dead crewmen were found in the plane and were buried at
"Tiggeltscheberg 2 km nw of Rijsbergen, Holland" according to the German statements in the MACR. Tiggeltscheberg is here according to Google maps.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/48...79!4d4.6760911


This is very close to the "Tiggeltseberg" as mentioned in post 2.

Re: Whitley P4955 lost 16/17 August 1940, crash location sought.
 

Rolland,

Thanks for the extra detail on the B-17 crash location.

Regards,

Martin.