Memorial Vickers Wellington T2996

During the night of 12 to 13 June, 1941, Wellington T2996 was shot down by Bf.110 of Ofw. Hans Rasper and Uffz. Erich Schreiber of the 4/NJG1(night fighter squadron) which operated from Bergen.

The Wellington was intercepted above the IJsselmeer and came down on a piece of agricultural land with potatoes and tulip bulbs which belonged to Antoon Langendijk, about 20 meters away from his home situated at the Zwaagdijk Z 22A in Wervershoof. At 00:50 the mayor of Wervershoof was called by the local air watch. The mayor observed three fires on his way towards the place of the crash, of which two were caused by smaller parts of the aircraft.

Precautionary the homes of J. Stroet and A. Langendijk were evacuated. Bystanders were sent away because of the danger of possible bombs. The mayor called at the place of A. Vijn by telephone to the Orts-Kommandant in Alkmaar. (Orts-Kommandant is the area commander of the German occupying forces.), the German depot in Opperdoes as well as the Dutch country police in Medemblik. At 01:30 Opperwachtmeester (a high ranking police officer) A. Dijk of Medemblik was informed by telephone by the mayor of Wervershoof that a burning aircraft had crashed in his municipality. Mr. A. Dijk rushed to the place of the crash and established that the aircraft was laying in three parts on the land and that it was of English origin.

At 05:00 Oberleutnant Schneider of the Bergen airfield arrived accompanied by some men in order to form a guard. At 06:00 A. Dijk found the maimed body of a crewmember that had probably left the aircraft too late. By orders of Oblt. Schneider the body was put into a coffin and transported to the mortuary near the Roman Catholic Church at the Zwaagdijk. Apparently these were the remains of Sergeant Horniman who was buried on June 14th, 1941. At 07:00 Mr. Dijk left the place of the crash and researched the immediate area for possible jumped crewmembers.

In the summer of 1966 the salvage services was able to recover the other bodies.

The Bf.110 itself however was also hit. The aircraft, the G9+BM, probably with serialnumber 2191 landed at Bergen and appeared to be damaged for about 15%.

T2996 belonged to a series of Vickers Mk.1c that were constructed at Vickers of Weybridge under contract number B38600/39.

The crew of the Wellington T2996 consisted of the following persons:
- Commander Robert Chisholm
- Flying officer William C. Taffender
- Sergeant Albert G.Burbridge
- Sergeant Alan Greensides
- Co-pilot Arthur Vernon J. Hardcastle
- Flt.Sgt.John K.E.Horniman

Flt.Sgt.John K.E. Horniman has been buried immediately after the crash in Bergen (Noord-Holland).

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Source

• Text: Ton Langedijk & Nico Hetsen
• Photos: Ton Langendijk