Quote:
Originally Posted by BigWeeker
Hello, Denis
Thank you very much for replying. I am researching the loss of Lancaster ND868 which was shot down 23/24 September, 1944. The pilot, Flt Lt S H Jones was the only survivor of the eight crew on board ( eight because there was a”second dickey on board”).
I was wondering if there was anyway of finding out the circumstances of the shoot down from any of Jones’s post war “debriefs”, either from the equivalent of an MACR or after he had been liberated as a POW.
Any pointers would be much appreciated
Regards
Andy BigWeeker
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Good evening
Those who were perished in this crash were initially buried in a bomb crater at Schierloh, an accumulation of wide-sped acriculture hamlets, about 2 - 3 km west of Ibbenbüren.
Rumors among whitnesses had gone around, that the aircraft suffered a midair-collision with another attacking plane. Whitnesses also state, that the bombers attacked the canal from a considerable low altitude.
There is an interesting story of two youngsters (13 and 14 years old) in the Ibbenbüren History Website. They long planned to get a machine-gun from an allied crashed aircraft, to install it at a hidden place and create a private anti-aircraft position (Boys in this age have dreams).
The description of the places and the way, they fooled the German guard to raessamble a machine gun from the aircraft traces to this crash-location. The date of the event is also given with September 23rd, 1944. Unfortunately, they give the aircraft an identification as a USAAF B-24.
On the other hand, there is no U.S. B-24 lost in the area.
The youngster reported the wreckage of the bomber as broken in two parts with indications, that a belly-landing had taken place.
Hope, this helps !
Horst Weber