Wellington T2880 7/8 July 1941

[lancaster103]

99 Sqdn Wellington T2880(LN-?) went missing after a raid on Cologne.
Made an emergency landing Strabrechtse heide in the Netherlands. All made POW. F/Lt E.A.Masters, P/O J.D.Agrell, P/O D.A.Elliott(RCAF),Sgt W.Kershaw, Sgt F.A.Hard and Sgt M.J.Platz(RCAF). does anyone have more info about these airmen and what the circumstances are of the emergencylanding or crash???

Many Thanks in advance;
Adrian

[alieneyes1]

Hi Ad,

R70760 Sgt Martin Johann Platz was from Winnipeg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Platz

J3758 P/O Donald Allan Elliott was from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/th...&pid=165655649

Regards,

Dave

[lancaster103]

As always Many,Many Thanks for this information Dave. Superb!!!

Keep you informed anyway
Cheers,
Adrian

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

A bit more on P/O J.D.Agrell:

Stalag Luft III - Part III: North (Officer's) Compound - March 1943 - January 1945.

ESCAPE ORGANISATION.
GATE WALK-OUT SCHEMES.
Second Attempt:

On 14th July, 1943 an escape was made by 89786 F/Lt J.D.Agrell RAF*. The guard on the Compound gate was a new man, unfamiliar with Ps/W, his fellow guards and the procedure. Agrell, wearing a German uniform over civilian clothes, told the guards he was an Abwehr man and demanded to be let through the gate. Agrell, who spoke fluent German, had identity papers.
He got through the gate and disposed of his uniform. His civilian clothing had Swedish laundry marks and he was posing as a Swedish workman. He travelled by train from Sagan to Strasbourg where he visited a priest whose address the Escape Committee had given him.The priest was unable to help him so he travelled by train to Mulhouse where he visited a hotel proprietor whose address he had been given by the Escape Committee. This man was unable to help him.
He met a French P/W worker, told him his story and was advised to try and reach Switzerland via Weil. He went by train to Weil but could not show any papers allowing him to cross the frontier. He was accused of being a spy and eventually had to confess his true identity.

* 914000 John Douglas AGRELL (89786) RAFVR. (POW No.1636/Camps:7C/10C/6B/L3).

See:
Stalag Luft III - An Official History of the "Great Escape" PoW Camp.
No Author.
Barnsley:Frontline Books,2016.
pp.183-4.

See also:
Lonesome Road.
Harsh,George
London:London Group,1972.
pp.175-186.

Col.

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

In 1995, Macmillan Canada, published a folio entitled,"So Many". One of the airmen commemorated in the volume was, Flt Lt D. Elliott, QC, PhD. There is a two-page biography on Elliott, a candid portrait, and some of Elliott's memorabilia. On page 119 there is an account, by Elliott, of the shoot down of Wellington T2880:

30% of all R.A.F. bomber aircraft destroyed over Western Europe, were shot down by German flak batteries. Early in the morning of July 8, 1941 Wellington "O for Orange" in which I was flying as the observer, became one such aircraft.

Eric Masters, our pilot, called me over the intercom, telling me to jettison the bombs because he was going to take the aircraft down on the deck. I had just done so when he called out, "bail out, bail out".

Although I was lying on the door used by the crew to enter and exit the plane, my parachute was back under my navigator's table.

For some reason, probably because I forgot to pull the ripcord, my parachute did not open immediately. I now believe that it did not do so until I was below 1,000 feet.
I landed in a farmer's field, in a minute or two, German troops from a nearby flak battery arrived and as their commander told me "For you, The war is over"!

Signed: D. Elliott - November, 1994. (Camps:7C/10C/6B/21B/L3 - POW No.1620)

See:
So Many: A Folio Dedicated to All Who Served with Bomber Command 1939-45
Gunston,Bill (ed.)
Canada:Macmillan Canada,1995
pp.114-121.

Theo Boiten's, Nachtjagd Combat Archive - The Early Years - Part 1 - 1939-12 July 1941/Red Kite, should tell you more.

Col.

[Alain57]

Goodmorning ,

Here some info on the POW camps en POW numbers

Masters Luft 3 / nr 1630
Elliott Luft 3 / nr 1620
Kershaw Camp 357 / nr 39240
Hard Luft 3 / 39241
Platz Luft 6 / 39246

Greets
Alain57

[lancaster103]

Col Bruggy and Alain Many ,Many Thanks for this information which is more than appreciated!!!! Is there some one who have the 99 Sqdn ORB's and especially for this crew??? Regards,
Adrian

[SteveR]

I don't have the ORB downloaded but I took a look at it on TNA's website using the preview function. Didn't look like there was any info you don't have already.

The ORB Appendices are +/- 500 pages and that's a bit much to go through using preview.