Date:	Wednesday 20 May 1942
Time:	02:24
Type:	Short Stirling Mk I
Owner/operator:	7 Sqn RAF
Registration:	W7520
MSN:	MG-S
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Other fatalities:	2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Dorpsstraat, Brustem, Sint-Truiden, Limburg -   Belgium
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Takeoff at 22:58 hrs for an operation to Mannheim in Germany.

Oberleutnant Friedrich 'Fritz' Gutezeit, Staffelkapitän of the 6./NJG 1 and his Funker Unteroffizier Januschewski intercepted homeward-bound 7 Sqn Stirling W7520 over Brustem. The aircraft exploded plunging burning wreckage into the Bf 110 E-1 coded G9+HP. The two aircraft crashed at Brustem killing both crews.

Pilot:65540 Flt Lt Hector Garrick Pilling DFC - Heverlee War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. C. 13-16 (NCO:776038 Commission Gazetted : Friday 30 May, 1941)
2nd Pilot:46894 Plt Off Ronald Arthur Bowker - Heverlee War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. C. 13-16 (NCO:655342 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 09 December, 1941)
Flight Engineer:940014 Sgt William Helliwell - Heverlee War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. C. 13-16.
Navigator:J/5694 Plt Off Irvine Frank Hoidas RCAF - Heverlee War Cemetery Coll. grave 3. C. 13-16.
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:R/61780 Sgt William Henry Bracken RCAF - Heverlee War Cemetery 3. C. 11.
Wireless Operator:R/65242 Flt Sgt Gerald John Patrick Kearns MID RCAF - Heverlee War Cemetery 3. C. 10.
Air Gunner:125315 Plt Off Clifford Lewis - Heverlee War Cemetery 3. C. 12 (NCO:967470 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 28 July, 1942)

Pilot Officer Bowker is also remembered on a family grave in Gap Road Cemetery, Wimbledon. See source 6 for details.

1. CWGC
2. Bomber Command Losses 1942
3. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part two
4. https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/stirling-te-brustem
5. Google Maps
6. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/73184
7. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Dec-2017 16:22	Red Dragon	Added
12-Nov-2018 16:59	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator, ]
20-Apr-2020 14:00	TigerTimon	Updated [Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
20-Apr-2020 14:05	TigerTimon	Updated [Location, ]
29-Jun-2022 11:17	Ron Averes	Updated [Location, ]
15-Jun-2023 10:38	Richard	Updated
15-May-2024 09:18	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]