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Date: | Tuesday 25 April 1944 |
Time: | 02:18 claim |
Type: | Handley Page Halifax Mk III |
Owner/operator: | 420 (City of London) Sqn RCAF |
Registration: | MZ503 |
MSN: | PT-L |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 7 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Waal river near Zuilichem, Gelderland -
Netherlands
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Tholthorpe |
Destination airport: | Karlsruhe |
Narrative:Takeoff at 21:35 hrs for an operation to Karlsruhe in Germany.
Having lost its nose in a collision over the target, the aircraft was intercepted and shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Hermann Greiner of the 11./NJG 1, who was flying a Bf 110 G-4 from St Trond (Sint-Truiden) airfield in Belgium.
The Halifax crashed near Zuilichem (Gelderland) on the S bank of the Waal, 8 km WSW of Zaltbommel. Those who died rest in Zuilichem General Cemetery.
Five crew members died, two were taken prisoner by German occupation forces:
Pilot F/O. D.D. Watterson J/20177 RCAF / grave 1 1-3
Flight Engineer P/O. A. Hansford 179265 RAF / grave 1 1-3 / 36 years old (NCO:3583983 Commission Gazetted : Monday 13 March, 1944)
Navigator W/O. E.V. Webb R/114846 RCAF / grave 1 1-3 / 21 years old
Bomb Aimer F/O. A.S. Redmonds J/28213 RCAF / grave 1 1-3
Wireless Operator F/O. W. Murphy J/22084 RCAF / grave 1 1-3 / 23 years old
Air Gunner Sgt. B.M. Cassidy R/207884 RCAF / prisoner of war; died 17th March 2005 at age 81 / buried at Zuilichem 4th May 2005
Air Gunner Sgt. G.R. Tanner J/90757 RCAF / prisoner of war
Sources:
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part two
https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T3619&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield= Google Maps
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
http://wilhelminasluis.nl/zuilichem-25-04-44.html Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1944 Page 187.
Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
17 August 1944 |
MZ687 |
420 (Snowy Owl) Sqn RCAF |
8 |
North Sea, some 70 nm off Dutch coast |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
17-Dec-2008 11:45 |
ASN archive |
Added |
08-Apr-2014 13:22 |
gerard57 |
Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
20-Apr-2014 21:27 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator] |
25-May-2015 18:24 |
King |
Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
10-Jun-2016 15:42 |
Red Dragon |
Updated [Cn, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
03-Apr-2020 10:27 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
16-Jun-2022 07:39 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [Location] |