Page 43 - May 2019

Historical
were so very quiet.’ at Papendrecht. In the first instance Memorial was unveiled on 21 July
However, on 11 June they were only four crew could be identified, 2004, sixty years after the crash. The
on the receiving end, when hit by flak but in March 1946, all were identified unveiling was attended by the Australian
during an Op to Nantes. They were by a RAF identification team. Alf was Ambassador, the UK Ambassador,
lucky to make it back with a heavily identified by his signet ring, engraved the Burgemeester of Papendrecht, as
damaged tailplane and the rear turret ‘CAB’. The graves were originally well as members of the Armed Forces,
out of action. marked with white wooden crosses, veterans, relatives, and townspeople.
On 30 June, along with 266 but in 1950 these were replaced with The crash area was renamed
Lancasters, Halifaxes, and Mosquitos individual headstones. Alf’s headstone Lancasterplein, and the nearby block
they bombed a wood near Villers- reads, ‘Our Hero – A devoted son and of flats was named ‘Lancaster Popeye’.
Bocage, which was hiding a large only brother to Beryl’. A book on Lancaster Popeye was
force of Panzer tanks. Over 1000 tons After 1945, Papendrecht contacted published in 2010 by Chris Meijers.
of bombs were dropped and the target the crew’s families, and these contacts At the 70th anniversary in 2014,
area was obliterated. Field Marshal grew into warm friendships, with an information board was unveiled
Bernard Montgomery sent a signal letters and visits. Then in 1997, the at the memorial. Every year, on 5
to Bomber Command, ‘It was a most Popeye Lancaster Foundation was May, Liberation Day, the people of
inspiring sight for the Allied soldiers formed to commemorate the crew and Papendrecht, together with veterans
in France to see the might of Bomber establish a memorial. This took on and relatives, commemorate the crew
Command arrive to join in the battle’. great significance, when in 2001, the at the Lancasterplein Memorial, and the
The squadron was later visited by crash area was allocated for a housing cemetery. Commemorations are also
King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and estate, and the Royal Netherlands held on anniversaries of the crash.
Princess Elizabeth. Salvage and Recovery Team began Alf is honoured at the International
On their 24th Op, Alf and his crew excavations. The aircraft had been Bomber Command Centre, Lincoln;
bombed the V1 flying bomb supply dump loaded with 1 x 4000 lb ‘Cookie’ and the Australian War Memorial; and the
at Nucort. The now well experienced 16 x 500 lb bombs, but no bombs were State War Memorial in Kings Park,
crew looked set to complete their first found in the wreckage. A large amount Perth. He is also honoured by 7 Wing
tour of 30 Ops, and were beginning to of wreckage was recovered, including Australian Air Force Cadets, with a Book
look forward to a well-earned break. an intact Merlin engine, propellers, main of Remembrance and Honour Board at
However, this was not to be. At 2330 tyres and various components. RAAF Pearce, and an Honour Board
hrs on 20 July 1944 they took off in Some aircraft parts, including the at the Aviation Museum, Bullcreek. His
Lancaster MkIII, ND913 (sqdn code Merlin engine, propeller blade, and story is included in the book Wings of
A4-M2), with nose art ‘Popeye’, on an machine gun, were placed on display in Valour.
operation to bomb the well defended the local museum. One propeller blade Opposite: Aircrew trainee, Charles Alfred
synthetic oil plant at Homberg. was donated to the memorial at RAF Barlow.
At 0145 hrs on 21 July the Lancaster Kirmington, Lincolnshire. Below: The Lancaster Memorial was
was badly hit in the right wing and After the recovery, a Lancaster unveiled in 2004.
caught fire. When the flames reached
the bomb bay it exploded and crashed
into a polder at Papendrecht on the
north bank of De Merwede River, south-
east of Rotterdam. One crewman baled
out but the parachute was on fire. The
Lancaster was claimed by nightfighter
pilot Oberleutnant Gottfried Hanneck of
6./NJG 1, making him an ace at five kills.
The crash was witnessed by 15-year-
old Peter Van der Giessen, who was on
watch in Papendrecht that night, and
raised the alarm.
All seven crew were killed, and the
next day the villagers found the remains
of six of the crew, with only one body
intact. The six crew members were
buried two days later in Papendrecht
General Cemetery. The seventh
crewman was found a week later in
the crash site, and he too was buried

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