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| Date: | Friday 26 March 1943 |
| Time: | 22:25 |
| Type: |  Vickers Wellington Mk X |
| Owner/operator: | 429 (Bison) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | MS487 |
| MSN: | AL-C |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Horstlaan, Voorschoten, Zuid-Holland -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF East Moor |
| Duisburg |
Took off from RAF East Moor at 19:32.
Hit by 2 & 3/M Flak Abt 816. Crashed at the Horstlaan in Voorschoten at 22:25.
Sgt Murray was captured on 26 March 1943 at The Hague Holland. He states that he received adequate treatment for his injuries. Injuries not listed
Sgt. Gordon Hutchinson Murray was the bomb aimer of Wellington MS487. Homeward bound, the Wimpy was shot down by Flak in the late hours of March 26, 1943, and crashed at the Horstlaan in Voorschoten. Murray bailed out in time and landed near Wassenaar, just north off The Hague. After disposing of his parachute, he found a barn where he hid himself as he reported later to resistance members: 'I lay hidden in a hay[stack] in a barn from 2300 hrs 26/3/43 until 20.00 hrs on 27/3 /43. A man found me and took me to his house.' This was Jacobus ‘Koos’ Turk who then lived with his sister-in-law Hieltje Leenstra at the Rijndijk 50 in Voorschoten. Murray stayed at this address for 9 or 10 days and was provided here with civilian clothes via Hendrika van den Akker, Turk’s wife. The airman was then handed over to Jan Stipdonk in Leiden. Meanwhile, Simon van den Berg, who worked at the townhall in The Hague and was a member of the ‘Oranje garde’ resistance group, had been informed about Murray. He found the situation at the Stipdonk family unsafe for the airman, collected him there and took Murray to Johannes van Lighthelm at Oosteinde 138 in Voorburg. After two days at this address, the airman was brought to Jan van Soldt at the Crispynstraat 93 in The Hague where he stayed for just more then a month.
Around mid May, Murray was taken by train to Dordrecht where butcher Joosten from
Grubbenvorst took him over and brought him to Baexem. Neer van der Vin, who lived at the Haardstraat 130 in Neeritter, collected the airman there and took him across the Dutch-Belgian border on May 18. Once in Belgium, van der Vin took Murray to the windmill of Gertrude Moors in Dilsen. Henri Machiels from Diepenbeek collected the airman there and brought him to Lucien Collin and his wife Clementine at the 41 Rue du Démer in Hasselt (both were arrested in June 1943 and deported to Germany. Only Clementine Collin survived the war). On May 20, the airman was brought to Brussels by Lucien Collin where he initially was handed over to Fernando Radelet. Radelet at his turn took Murray to Isabelle Anspach at 30 Rue de Naples in Brussels-Ixelles, where he stayed until May 24, 1943.
On this date, he left for Paris via Kortrijk, in a group guided by an undercover agent of the Parisian Gestapo: Jacques Désoubrie. Murray and the rest of the group were not arrested because Désoubrie first had to gain the confidence of Frédéric De Jongh, the contact in Paris. In Kortrijk, the group took the train to Menin and passed the French-Belgian border between Menin and Halluin. From Halluin, the airmen travelled by train to Tourcoing and Lille and finally to Paris. Murray stayed for six days in the French capital in the house of Dr André Bohn at 116 Boulevard Raspail in Paris VIe. He stayed here with Sgt. Ronald George Goddard, the navigator of Halifax JB873 of 78 Squadron that was shot down over Belgium on May 14, 1943. On May 30, Murray and Goddard left Paris for Lyon. From Lyon, Murray and Goddard travelled to Bram, near Carcassonne, with two airmen of the USAAF: Lt. Homer Contopidis and Sgt. Walter E. Minor. At Bram four other airmen joined them. Joseph Sankey, Sgt. Alvin Turner (E0038), P/O. Stanley F. Everiss and P/O. John B. Ford. The last two were crew members of Stirling BK725 that had been shot down over France on April 17, 1943.
On June 6, the airmen - guided by two resistance members – left for Carcassonne and then to Lavelanet, where they took a bus to Foix. The same evening, they started to walk in the direction of the mountains. On their way they to the Pyrenees they were joined by a large party of Frenchmen who wanted to join the Free French Forces. On June 10, the group reached Andorra. Here they stayed for three days in a hotel, before they walked to Manresa in Spain where they arrived on June 20. From Manresa they took a train to the British consulate in Barcelona where they arrived unharmed. Shortly thereafter, the British consulate sent them on to Gibraltar. Murray, Everiss and Turner left Gibraltar by plane on June 27 and arrived the next day in Hendon, England, where Murray was interviewed by MI9.
Crew
Pilot: 123109 Fg Off George Fox - The Hague (Westduin) General Cemetery Allied Plot Row 2 Grave 40.
Navigator: 1235073 Sgt Arthur Albert Skelly - The Hague (Westduin) General Cemetery Allied Plot Row 2 Grave 42.
Bomb Aimer: 1082668 Sgt Gordon Hutchinson Murray - Evaded (See above)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: 126739 Plt Off Peter Spencer Bastian - The Hague (Westduin) General Cemetery Allied Plot Row 2 Grave 41.
Rear Gunner: 1108414 Sgt James Mcquarrie Murray - PoW/Amsterdam Hospital/Stalag Luft Frankfurt Hospital/Stalag IXC Bad Sulza/Stalag Luft VI Heydekrug/Stalag 357 Thorn-Fallingbostal PoW Number 42730.
Sources:
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T2144&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part 1 - Theo Boiten
CWGC
Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945
PoW Questionnaire
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 24-Mar-2018 08:51 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Oct-2018 20:18 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
| 11-Jan-2024 09:35 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 22-Sep-2025 12:52 | Anon. | Updated [Cn, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
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