Cycle Route Wings of Freedom: Crash Site Halifax Mk II, HR719, Code NP-M

In the night from 11th to 12th June 1943 783 bombers of Bomber Command carried out a massive attack on Düsseldorf. It was a reasonably successful bombardment in which up to 1292 people were killed, 35 factories were brought to a standstill and another 35 suffered great loss of production capacity to a certain extent. Besides 20 military objects were hit or damaged and 8 vessels were sunk or damaged.

The Halifax Mk II, HR719 that crashed near Plasmolen was hit by Major Werner Streib’s night fighter plane (Stab I/NJG I).
The bomber, on its way back to England, was coming from the direction Groesbeek and exploded in the air. The plane did not burst into flames. The debris of the plane was all over the area, which was also the case with the crew members.
In the tail of the plane there were two men. One of them was severely injured and he died one week later as well in an Amsterdam hospital. Some of the pieces of the plane were found back deep in the swampy ponds. One of the pilots had sunk up to 60 cm (some 25 inches) into the ground as a result of his fall. All in all 38 aircraft were lost in this mission.

Crew members:
Pilot R.G. Pope RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Flight engineer A. Glen RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Navigator T.F. Potter RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Bombadier R.A.C. Showler RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Radio operator L. Lee RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Aerial gunner F.G. Lay-Flurrie RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Aerial gunner G.A. Green RAF KIA Amsterdam Cemetery

The crash took place at the coordinates: 51.738655, 5.921493.

In collaboration with the municipalities of Bergen, Gennep, Mook-Middelaar and Weeze, the initiative was created for cycling routes 'Wings of Freedom' along crash locations.
In the four municipalities, 28 crash sites have been definitively confirmed. Near each crash site is a memorial sign with information about the cause of the crash. Using the network of cycling nodes, there are four routes of approximately 30 - 40 km. deployed along these places.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Werkgroep Wings of Freedom
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze (1, 2, 3), Werkgroep Wings of Freedom (4)
• Vliegtuigcrashroute Wings of Freedom