Date:	Monday 8 September 1941
Time:	05:59
Type:	Handley Page Hampden Mk I
Owner/operator:	144 Sqn RAF
Registration:	AD936
MSN:	PL-Y
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Buikslotermeer, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF North Luffenham, Oakham, Rutland
Destination airport:	RAF North Luffenham, Rutland

Narrative:
Handley Page Hampden Mk.I AD936 (PL-P) of 144 Squadron, RAF. Lost on combat operations on the night of 7-8/9/1941. Mission: Berlin. Of the crew of four, one was killed, and the other three were captured and taken as POWs.

Aircraft was hit by flak over Berlin and a fuel leak ensued. The two Air Gunners (Sgt. Thompson and Sgt. Fraser) bailed out over the target, and Fraser was killed. His body was never located, and he is memorialized at Runnymede. Sgt Payne (Navigator) and Pilot Officer Stevens (Pilot) remained with the aircraft and were able to return as far as Amsterdam before running out of fuel and performing a forced landing in a farmer's field at Buikslotermeer near Nieuwendam Schellingwoude, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (at approximate co ordinates 52°24′N 4°57′E)

Stevens and Payne destroyed all secret parts and papers, then set fire to the aircraft before leaving the area. They were both captured in a football clubhouse later that day. Although in captivity, he was promoted war substantive flying officer on 2/11/1941, and war substantive flight lieutenant a year later. Stevens was awarded the Military Cross in 1946 as one of the most ardent POW escapers of the war.

Pilot officer Peter Stevens real birth name was Georg Franz Hein (born 15/2/1919 in Hanover, Germany). In 1934 his widowed mother sent him to school in England. He remained in England after finishing school, but ran up gambling debts and was jailed for fraud. He was released just days before Britain declared war on Germany, and should have reported to a police station for internment as an enemy alien. Instead he assumed the identity of a dead school friend, Peter Stevens, and joined the RAF. He was also the only documented German Jew to pilot bombers in the RAF, and died in Toronto, Canada on 16/7/1979, aged 60.

Crew of Hampden AD936
Pilot:Pilot Officer Peter Stevens RAFVR (88219) - Survived, captured, taken as POW (NCO:900146 Commission Gazetted : Friday 20 December, 1940)
Observer: Sgt. Alan Wakefield "Doc" Payne RAFVR (1253981) - Survived, captured, taken as POW
Wireless Op: Sgt. Harry "Tommy" Thompson RAFVR (950320) - Survived, jumped over Germany from aircraft, captured and taken as POW
Air gunner: Sgt. Ivor Roderick Fraser RAF (649384) - KIA, Jumped over Germany from aircraft, but never found. Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

1. Escape, Evasion and Revenge' by Marc H. Stevens (Pen & Sword Aviation, Oct 2009)
2. Chorley W.R.: Bomber Command Losses 1941” page 141
3. http://www.nimh.nl/nl/images/1941%20sec_tcm5-7282.pdf
4. http://aircrewremembered.com/peter-stevens-mc.html
5. https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T1256&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stevens_(RAF_officer)
7. https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/144427/Bravery-of-the-German-Jew-who-flew-RAF-bombers-over-his-homeland
8. http://www.marchstevens.com/book/georgfranzhein.htm
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buikslotermeer
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1270396/fraser,-ivor-roderick/
11. Google Maps
12. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

15 April 1942

AT157

144 Sqn RAF

2

near Straelen, Nordrhein-Westfalen

w/o

Presumably Buiksloot or Schiphol airfield, both in Amsterdam.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
16-Jun-2009 22:04	mhstevens	Updated
21-Jun-2009 09:23	mhstevens	Updated
14-Aug-2012 03:30	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
14-Aug-2012 03:30	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
14-Aug-2012 03:30	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source, Narrative]
02-Aug-2018 22:11	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
02-Aug-2018 22:13	Dr.John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
17-Oct-2018 05:41	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
24-Mar-2020 20:13	TigerTimon	Updated [Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source]
10-Apr-2020 20:52	TigerTimon	Updated [Photo]
14-Jun-2022 04:09	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
18-May-2023 08:39	Rob Davis	Updated [[Location]]