Memorial post crash Hampden AT154 and Stirling EH 889

Airplane crash Hampden AT 154

On the night of 2 to 3 June 1942, 195 bombers of the Royal Air Force, including Lancasters and Hampdens, were sent to bomb the Krupp factories in Essen. During this attack, 14 aircraft were lost.
The Hampden AT154 had taken off at 23:26 from Balderton airfield in Nottinghamshire, England.

At 01:06, the Hampden was shot down by a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighter from Leeuwarden airfield on its outbound flight to Essen and crashed into the IJsselmeer, approximately 1 kilometre east of Medemblik.

The crew:
Kenneth Henry Taylor, Second Lieutenant Royal Canadian Air Force, Pilot, 20 years old (killed)
Peter Leslie Edwards, First Lieutenant Royal Air Force, Observer/Bomb Aimer, 25 years old (missing)
Ewart Gladstone Ronson, Sergeant Royal Air Force, Wireless Operator, 22 years old (killed)
Orville Wilbert McKenzie, Sergeant Royal Canadian Air Force, Air Gunner, 25 years old (killed)

Stirling EH 889 Aircraft Crash

On the night of 22 to 23 June 1943, 558 bombers of the Royal Air Force were sent out in a ‘Bomber Command’ to bomb the German city of Mühlheim and its surroundings in the Ruhr area. 37 aircraft were lost in this attack. The Stirling MK III, four-engine bomber armed with eight machine guns, of the NZ 75th New Zealand Squadron, had taken off at 23:48 from Newmarket airfield in the county of Suffolk in England. At 1:58 the aircraft, on its way back, was shot down by a German Messerschmitt night fighter from the airfield ‘Fliegerhorst’ near Leeuwarden. The burning aircraft crashed into the IJsselmeer approximately 8 kilometres east of the village of Oosterland on the island of Wieringen. The crew of 7 was killed in this crash.

The crew:
Thomas Fraser Mc Crorie, 1st Lieutenant Royal Air Force, pilot, age 26 (killed)
William Stuckey, 1st Officer Royal Air Force, co-pilot/navigator, age 29 (killed)
Raymond Anthony Kennedy, 1st Sergeant Royal Air Force, gunner, age 28 (killed)
Robert Ernest Tod, 1st Sergeant Royal Canadian Air Force, wireless operator/gunner, age 23 (killed)
Richard Douglas Tod, 1st Sergeant Royal Canadian Air Force, wireless operator/gunner, age 23 (killed)
James Leonard Richards, 1st Sergeant Royal New Zealand Air Force, bomb aimer, age 25 (killed)
Eric Grainger, 1st Sergeant Royal Air Force, flight engineer, age 21 (killed)

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen