Cycle Route Wings of Freedom: Crash Site Halifax Mk II, L-9521, Code TL-Z

On 9 July 1941 Halifax MkII, L-9521 of RAF 35 Squadron crashed near this location. Four crew members lost their lives. Three others were taken POW. This memorial is part of the Wings of Freedom route Gennep-Mook.

At 10.30 hrs 170 planes took off from their base Linton-on Ouse among them 7 four-engined Halifax planes. The aircraft were to attack different targets. One specific target for the Halifax planes was the Leunaworks in Merseburg and esp. the BASF chemical factory. One the way back one Halifax was caught in the lights of some searchlights.

A German night fighter plane (a Messerschmitt Bf-110 piloted by Lt. August Geiger) that was circling round gunned the Halifax down. Immediately a fire broke out in the plane and after the crashlanding it came to a standstill against a house, burning. The pilot and some other crew members had jumped out and they survived. The pilot was offered the possibility to hide in the house of the Jansen family, but he refused.
Four inhabitants of the house were severely burnt and they died in the Nijmegen hospital.
A tragedy is the fate of the gunner Sgt. B. Coleman. He was a POW, but was killed by ‘friendly fire’ on 25 April 1945.

Crew members:
Pilot L.W. Bovington (DFM) RAF POW
Flight engineer H.S. Bradbeer RAF POW
Navigator T.A. Parkes (24) RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Bombardier A.R. Kiddey RAF POW Stalag Mühlberg
Radio operator G.D. Barry (23) RAF POW
Aerial gunner N.E.H. Coleman (33) RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery
Aerial gunner A.E. Hammond (22) RAF KIA Uden War Cemetery

The crash took place at the coordinates: 51.746894, 5.894467.

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: Arjan Vrieze + Werkgroep Wings of Freedom
• Photos: Frans Ammerlaan (1, 2, 3, 4), Werkgroep Wings of Freedom (5)
• Vliegtuigcrashroute Wings of Freedom