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Hampden I AE246 ditched in the sea of Kattegat near Anholt
29/3-1942.
The aircraft belonged to RAF 420 Sqn. Bomber Command and was coded PT-V.
T/O Waddington. OP: Lübeck.
Hampden AE246 was hit by flak over Esbjerg and lost fuel. Sqn. Ldr George
Roger Tench headed north and approx. 12 miles south east of the island of Anholt
he ran out of fuel and had to ditch AE246 in the calm sea.
(RM 45 III 315 via Carsten Petersen)
(RM 45 III 315 via Carsten Petersen)
The crew, whom apart from Sqn. Ldr Tench were F/Sgt Harry Thorne, Sgt Kenneth Thompson Hyde RCAF and Sgt
Felix Augustine Durnan, entered the aircrafts dinghy. Ten o’clock in the morning
they were observed by the Danish fishing boat L 31 “Maagen” of Lemvig.
Skipper Marinus Petersen picked the flyers and the dinghy up and brought them to Grenaa,
where they arrived at 16:30 in the afternoon.
Apparently the flyers had asked
Petersen to take them to Sweden, but neither he nor his crew understood English
and therefore he took them to Grenaa. The flyers were taken to the local police
station where they were given dry clothes and a warm meal.
(Robert Tench)
Sqn. Ldr George
Roger Tench (center)
(Robert Tench)
Sqn. Ldr George
Roger Tench (left)
(Hilary Kenrick, daughter)
W/op - Rear gunner F/Sgt Harry Thorne. Picture from 1940.
(Hilary Kenrick, daughter)
F/Sgt Harry Thorne with fellow prisoners at Pow camp Stalag
VIII B.
(Hilary Kenrick, daughter)
F/Sgt Harry Thorne in 1946 after having returned to England.
At 17:15 the head of
police informed Abwehrstelle, Aarhus about the flyers and at 20:00 they were
collected by the Wehrmacht and taken to Aarhus.
Later they were sent to Dulag
Luft in Oberursel for interrogation.
When that was finished Tench was
transferred to Stalag Luft III Sagan then to Stalag XXIB and after a while back
to Stalag Luft III Sagan.
Thorne, Hyde and Durnan were sent to Stalag VIIIB
Lamsdorf. Thorne was later moved to Stalag Luft III Sagan.
L 31 "Maagen"
Sources: BCL, OLCB, LBUK, UA, E.Nielsen Grenaa, AS 42-47.
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