Crash Site Wellington Mk IV GR-Z Z1491 301 Sqn RAF Rummen

In 2015, the chapel was officially inaugurated and consecrated as a tribute to the crew of the Polish plane that was shot down there during the Second World War.

Text on the information board:
Friday August 28th 1942, two days before Rummen’s fair. At 20.00pm a R.A.F. Vickers Wellington Mk IV bomber (GR-Z Z1491) of the 30th Polish ‘Pomerian’ squadron, took off from the British airfield Hamswell (Lincolnshire). Destination : Saarbrücken’s shunting-yard. On board: six Polish crew members and a load of incendiaries. At 22.50 pm, under a full moon, the bomber was attacked by night fighter Hauptman Ludwig Bietmann (5/NJG1) and Unteroffizier Wolfgang Reinicke in a Messerschmitt BF110. They had taken off from Brustem airfield (near Sint-Truiden). The bomber’s tail-plane and port side were hit. The incendiaries were dropped in an attempt to escape and the pilot tried to get the plane back home. He didn’t succeed. The crew bailed out and saw the plane going down in a spiral dive with a burning port engine. The plane crashed here at about 22.52pm. Three crewmembers managed to escape. The three other were caught by the Germans and spent the rest of the War in different prisoner-of-war camps. The commemorative plaque wants to honour these Poles, who fought also for our freedom.
This commemorative plaque was erected in 2009 by the town council of Geetbets i.c.w. the historical society Limes Gatia.

P/O Tyszko, evaded capture
F/O Swida evaded capture
Sgt Wasiak evaded capture.
F/O Mucha, POW
F/O Gandor, POW
Sgt Uramowski, POW

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Source

• Text: Informatiebord
• Photos: Luc Van Waeyenberge