BBC: A Challenge for Rootschatters

[liverpool annie]

Looks like there was an original crew of 7 - where are the other men??
This plane is Stirling I W7624 LS-E from 15 Squadron
According to the entry in RAF Bomber Command Losses by W R Chorley it took off 2100 from Bourn. Believed shot down by a night fighter (Oblt Viktor Buer, III./NJG1) to crash near Bentelo in the commune of Delden. F/Sgt G A Smith RNZAF rests in Ambt-Delden Cemetery.

They were inbound for Kassel - another source states that at least three of the seven crew were seen to bale out. The Rear Gunners (Smith) parachute failed to deploy and he was killed as he struck the ground 5km NE of the crash site. Same source also states that two bodies were recovered from the wreckage - the crew may have jettisoned the bombload, but were unable to jettison the 2000lb bombs. Or alternatively, those bombs were buried deeply, but the others were close to the surface, and so the bomb disposal team of 1942 dealt with them.

Annie

[samesizedfeet]

someone posted a link earlier on the thread that says four parachutes were seen coming from the aircraft - one of these failed

I would assume that the other three all survived

[liverpool annie]

Name   SMITH, GLEN ALLEN
Initials   G A
Nationality   New Zealand
Rank   Flight Sergeant (Air Gnr.)
Regiment   Royal New Zealand Air Force
Unit Text           15 (R.A.F.) Sqdn
Age            22
Date of Death    28/08/1942
Service No   403032
Additional information   Son of Albert George Smith and of Jeanetta Isobel Ellen Smith (nee Ayton), of Auckland City, New Zealand.
Casualty Type    Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference   Plot IB. Row K. Grave 6.
Cemetery   AMBT-DELDEN GENERAL CEMETERY        

[Arranroots]

I think the link also says that the men were never heard from again (if I remember rightly)

A  

[liverpool annie]

Maybe it was because they were from NZ too!!
Maybe a post on NZ board might bring some information ... 

Annie

[Arranroots]

Annie!

I meant that they may not have survived (captured, died in the descent etc), not that they cheerfully b***ed off to NZ and didn't write their thank-you letters!

 

[liverpool annie]

I know that Mum!

I was just thinking aloud -  that maybe if they were a mixed crew  - relatives of the other men maybe in New Zealand or Australia !! and we have the resources to find out!

I've been trying to find out the names of the rest of the crew - no luck just yet!!

Annie

[samesizedfeet]

Peter Sharman /Gabrielson

no marriage for his possible sister between 1940 and 1952 under either name

a handful of Gabrielson marriages in roughly the same area as their births tho - have kept all the pages should we uncover another sibling to search for

Zoe

[Timbottawa]

Annie!

I meant that they may not have survived (captured, died in the descent etc), not that they cheerfully b***ed off to NZ and didn't write their thank-you letters!

 

Although one of the messages on the the air battles site referenced earlier in this thread proposed that two of the New Zealanders may have drifted into Germany on their paracutes, I think we can discount this, as the Germans remain, to this day, lousy at rugby.

Tim