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Whitley V N1383 shot down by flak and crashed in Vildmosen moor on 26/4 1940.
The aircraft belonged to RAF 102 Sqn. Bomber Command and was coded DY-H.
T/o 22:48 Kinloss OP: Aalborg
The flak was heavy over Aalborg West airfield, and while trying to get out of
the area, N1383 was hit by shells from 1 and 3./603 and 3./111 at 03:17 hours. A
fire started and the aircraft crashed in “Fenne 8” in Vildmosen moor 10 km NW of
the airfield.
Only the wounded second Pilot Sgt. Vincent Herbert Barr managed to get out
of the striken plane before it hit the ground. He landed in his parachute not
far from the crash site and hid the chute in a ditch.
At about six o’clock in
the morning he knocked on the door to a farmhands cottage on the Blokhus road
about three km from the crash site.
Here Niels Andersen lived with his wife
Ingvartine. Even though Niels did not speak English he asked Barr in.
Barr
appeared to be very nervous and were tired and dirty. He was invited to join the
couple for breakfast. After breakfast he was taken to the living room and shown
the sofa. Shortly after, he was sound asleep.
Niels then walked over to the
neighbour and borrowed the phone to call the local police for advice. They told
him that they would handle the situation, and Niels then left home to start
working.
When he returned back home for lunch Barr had woken up and had lunch as
well.
Niels was surprised that the police had not yet arrived.
Nothing happened
until after dinner when suddenly a German truck arrived as well as a Danish
police car. Soldiers from the truck surrounded the house, while an officer
approached the house together with a Danish policeman.
Barr and the German
officer offered each other cigarettes and Barr the followed the German to the
truck and were taken to Aalborg.
From Aalborg he was sent to Höhemark Hospital near Dulag Luft in
Oberursel outside Frankfurt am Main. He arrived on 29/4 and was held in solitary
confinement for two days. After treatment for his wound ( shrapel in right thigh
) and interrogation he was sent to Stalag Luft I Barth. In October he was part
in an attempted escape, but the tunnel was discovered just before completion.
Later he was transferred to Stalag Luft III Sagan and still later on to Stalag Luft VI Heidekrug and at the end of the war he was placed in Stalag
357 Thorn (Poland) to end up in Stalag 357 Fallingbostel.
He returned to England after the war.
(Chris Beith via Ole Rønnest)
Pilot F/O Owen Gerard Horrigan
Pilot F/O Owen Gerard Horrigan, Observer Sgt. John Francis Hayes, W.Op./Air Gnr.
Norman Haithwaite and W.OP AC2 Cyril Cecil Whitley were all laid to rest in
Vadum cemetery on 28/4. A German Field priest and the parish minister N. Møller
officiated at the graveside ceremony. After this a detachment of soldiers fired
a salute.
(Via Rønnest)
The crashsite
(Via Rønnest)
(Via Rønnest)
Danes with parachute and bomb
The graves as seen on 16/8 1940
Sources: Ole Rønnest, BCL, RL, CWGC, WO 344/18/2 246904.
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