Crash Site Avro Lancaster Mk III MD913 'Popeye'

On the site of this memorial, the Lancaster MD913 A4-M ‘Popeye’ crashed on 21 July 1944. This killed the seven crew members, five from Britain and two from Australia.

The ‘Popeye’ of the C-flight of 115 Squadron RAF had taken off at 11.30pm from Withford airbase in Cambridgeshire, England. The aircraft was part of a formation of 147 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos with the aim of bombing oil installations near Bomberg. Popeye was the last aircraft in the formation. On its way back, the plane was probably shot down by a night fighter or possibly by FLAK, skimmed over the houses at Oosteind in Papendrecht and crashed in a meadow where it immediately exploded.

In 2002, the aircraft was recovered due to the construction of a residential area. In 2004, this monument was unveiled, incorporating one of the Lancaster's propellers and a granite block with the text: ‘We will remember them forever’.

The crew consisted of:

Flight sergeant Charles Alfred Barlow (aged 19) RAAF,
Flying officer Colin Mervyn Clarey (aged 30) RAAF,
Wireless Operator sergeant Douglas Hancock (20 years) RAF,
Air Bomber flight sergeant Samuel Edward Kirkland (25 years) RAF,
Navigator sergeant Edward John Line (21 years) RAF,
Flight Engineer sergeant Herbert Charles Luton (25 years) RAF
Air Gunner sergeant Arthur Walter Middleton (21 years) RAF.

It was their 27th mission. They are buried in the General Cemetery in Papendrecht. A small exhibition about the Popeye is on permanent display at the museum Dorpsbehoud.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Fedor de Vries (1, 2, 3), Peter Schipper (4, 5)
• - https://115squadron-raf.be/crews/ND 913/2010 THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE LANCASTER 2e versie fmmc.pdf