ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 234804
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| Date: | Friday 28 April 1944 |
| Time: | 02:00 LT |
| Type: |  Avro Lancaster Mk III |
| Owner/operator: | 405 (Vancouver) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | JA976 |
| MSN: | LQ-S |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Webbekom, Diest, Flemish Brabant -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Gransden Lodge, Cambridgeshire |
Takeoff at 00:01 hrs for an operation to the railway yards at Montzen, Blieberg, province of Liège.
Homeward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by night fighter pilot Oberleutnant Johannes Hager, Staffelkapitän of the 6./NJG 1 based at Saint-Dizier airfield in France.
Of this highly experienced crew (four DFC-holders), seven crew members were killed. They were F/Lt Clifford Allen (navigator), P/O Robert Booth (flight engineer), F/S James Bradley (wireless operator), P/O Leslie Foster (mid-upper gunner) and P/O Nicholas Clifford (tail gunner). The machine had two bomb aimers on board, F/Lt David Ramsay DFC and F/Lt George Smith. The latter landed alive, but succumbed two days later to his injuries. He was laid to rest by his fallen comrades in the cemetery of Webbekom.
The pilot was the only survivor. He escaped by parachute and landed safely. However, speaking in earthly terms, Squadron Leader Edward 'Ted' Blenkinsop, might have been the most unfortunate of all eight crew members.
He managed to find shelter with the locals and eventually ended up in the municipality of Meensel-Kiezegem. These villages would undergo one of the most terrible war dramas on our territory. The German government, in cooperation with the 'Stormgroep Verbelen', organized a raid on both communities. Many inhabitants were taken to concentration camps. Also Blenkinsop was captured, and taken away with the Belgian prisoners. He worked as a forced labourer in Hamburg, after which he succumbed to a 'heart attack' in Bergen-Belsen. Blenkinsop has no known grave.
Sources:
Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part two
https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/lancaster-bij-webbekom
Google Maps
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Apr-2020 11:22 | TigerTimon | Added |
| 06-Apr-2020 14:20 | TigerTimon | Updated [Narrative] |
| 06-Apr-2020 14:27 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time] |
| 07-Nov-2022 01:47 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
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