Crash location Hurricane No. 1 Squadron, 12/05/1940

[B.F.M. Droog]

Can anyone enlighten me with the exact crash location of this Hurricane? Or tell me if the pilot landed in Belgium or the Netherlands?:

Type: Hurricane Mk 1
Serial number: L1688, JX-?
Operation: Escort
Lost: 12/05/1940
F/O R.G. Lewis - safe
Escorted Battles of 12 Squadron. Baled out after combat with Me 109's of JG27 near Maastricht, Netherlands

[Leendert]

Bart,

Happened to find the book "Number One in War and Peace" by Norman Franks and Mike O'Connor in the local De Slegte bookshop today and remembered your question.. Took a note.

It seems that Lewis was taken prisoner first by the Germans, but could be freed by Belgian troops who had mounted a counter-attack in the area.
Story goes that Senegalese troops (apparently attached to some French unit) were in the neighbourhood as well.
This all points to that Lewis came down in Belgium. Most of the aerial combat took place west of Maastricht, which makes it easily over Belgian territory.

Regards,

Leendert

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello Leendert,

What means that Lewis must have landed far more west of Maastricht than I thought. With a bit of luck I'll be able to pinpoint the location of the Senegalese troops in the future (if this part of the story turns out to be true).

The aerial actions west of Maastricht on 11 and 12 May 1940 are quite confusing, due to the fact that the bridges across the Albert Canal are situated only meters from the border between the Netherlands and Belgium. Some of the involved planes are likely to have crashed in the Netherlands, as crew members are buried in Maastricht.

Yet, while researching Belgian Army losses in the Netherlands in May 1940, I found out that a number of Belgian soldiers has died in Maastricht - presumably as prisoners of war. It seems that a (or the) Maastricht hospital was used by the Germans as a hospital for wounded PoW's, captured in the Maastricht area - which includes parts of Belgium. Which makes it hard to tell if those RAF airman buried in Maastricht crashed in The Netherlands or in Belgium.

This may sound trivial, but it's of infuence on how Dutch and Belgian historians of the past wrote (or better said: didn't write) about these actions, as they didn't look across the border.

Regards,

Bart