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Old 15th February 2011, 12:58
Leendert Leendert is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Belgium
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Re: Gotha Crashes in Holland Aug/Sept. 1917

Brian,

There's a pretty much detailed account of the two Gotha's at Beerta and Blijham in the Dutch newspaper "Het Volk" of 21 Aug. 1917.
The reporter writes that the Gotha at Beerta had landed on a farm field and was virtually undamaged, only missing part of a propeller tip. It was marked S.S.W.W. 1055/16. Crew is described as a "young German officer, an NCO and a soldier" and were having bread and milk offered by Dutch military. Crew told they had taken off at Ghent and had planned to fly to Germany. The airplane made an emergency landing in Holland, and when crew was notified that they had landed there, made a futile attempt to take off again.

The Gotha at Blijham was marked 1059 and crew composition was same as above. But here the plane was set on fire and "some iron remained".

No names are mentioned.

On the website www.kranten.kb.nl you can find back quite a few incidents in Holland like the ones above in old online Dutch newspapers, but then, a bit knowledge of Dutch is an advantage to sift through the articles.

Regards,

Leendert
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