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| Date: | Tuesday 3 June 1941 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: | Handley Page Hampden Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 50 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | AD797 |
| MSN: | VN-O |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Mollestraat, Linde Peer, Limburg -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Lindholme, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Lindholme, North Yorkshire |
2/3 June 1941 -
BOMBING DUSSELDORF
Nine aircraft took off from RAF Lindholme, North Yorkshire for Dusseldorf from 22.40 hours onwards. Met report: cloudy over entire route with thick haze obscuring the target (Dusseldorf). Eight aircraft bombed, most by dead reckoning, with no results noted. One aircraft, Hampden AD797 (VN-O) failed to return, nothing further being heard from the crew after take-off. The aircraft failed to return, and is believed to have been shot down by a night fighter over Belgium on the return from the target.
All four crew were killed, and bodes recovered for burial;
88403 Pilot Officer Peter Robert Duncan Brown RAFVR, (Navigator, aged 19 and an Australian National) (NCO:958417 Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 31 December, 1940)
951748: Sgt. George Thomas Cheetham RAFVR (Wireless Op/Air Gunner, aged 22)
643184: Flight Sgt. John Todd Donnelly RAF (Wireless Op/Air Gunner, aged 22) and
83725: Pilot Officer Philip Booth Hodgson RAF (Pilot, aged 24) (NCO:754464 Commission Gazetted : Friday 13 September, 1940)
All four are buried in Leopoldsburg War Cemetery. Limburg, Belgium. According to Belgian sources (see link #3)
"On the morning of the 3 June 1941, the aircraft crashed into Mollestraat (now Linde Bosstraat) in Linde Peer. Limburg, close to a Village Funfair. Villagers were first on the scene. German soldiers from the nearby Helchteren Barracks were soon on the scene. Due to the carnage, the bodies were buried on the spot. Remarkably, the German soldiers are believed to have placed flowers on the graves, as they were First World War veterans (maybe Home Guard or equivalent?) and were anti-Nazi. After the war, the bodies were exhumed and re-interred at the British Military Cemetery in Leopoldsburg. Interestingly FIVE bodies are said to have been recovered from the wreckage and five graves were visible in a photograph taken at the time.However such was the devastation of the crash site that it is possible that remains of four were thought to be five?
In the churchyard of Linde is a masonry monument for the crew of the Hampden AD797 of 50 Squadron. The memorial stone was unveiled on October 14, 2001 and was an initiative of the Peer Society of Peoples. The research for this memorial was mainly done by Peter Loncke and the Heemkundige Kring van Peer.
A Bf. 110 attacked one of the other crews this morning; this may have been the cause of AD797’s demise. Seven of the remaining eight aircraft landed safely back at Base, one diverted to Finningley.
Sources:
1. http://www.no-50-and-no-61-squadrons-association.co.uk/app/download/5802508903/50+SQUADRON+ORB+1939+1943+Revision+1.pdf
2. 50 Squadron RAF ORB (Air Ministry Form 540): http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2503123
3. http://www.luchtvaarterfgoed.be/content/monument-bemanning-hampden-i-ad797
4. https://www.luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/hampden-ad797-bij-linde
5. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109477/brown,-peter-robert-duncan/
6. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109507/cheetham,-george-thomas/
7. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109577/donnelly,-john-todd/
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2109720/hodgson,-phillip-booth/
9. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1099679503411313.1073741848.823316054380994&type=3
10. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Jul-2018 21:19 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 12-Nov-2018 20:28 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
| 22-May-2024 14:26 | Rob Davis | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
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