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Lancaster III EE138 shot down 4/9-1943 near Stadil.
The aircraft belonged to RAAF (RAF) 460 Sqn. Bomber Command and was coded AR-E2
call sign E2-Easy.
T/o 19:58 Binbrook. OP: Berlin.
On the return flight from Berlin EE138 was attacked by a German JU 88C-6 night
fighter piloted by Leutnant Rechberger of 12. / NJG 3. It is believed that the
JU 88C-6 was coded D5+AX and carried the Werknummer 750500. The Lancaster caught
fire and at 02:33 it fell to the ground in a field belonging to Ingeman Halkjær,
Stadil exploding on impact. The field was marshy and most of the aircraft
disappeared in a water filled hole.
Carthew, Forrester, Jowett
Coombes, Thirkettle
The crew which consisted of S/Ldr Carl R. Kelaher RAAF, W/O Ewin C. Carthew RAAF,
W/O Cyril R. Walsh RAAF, F/O Sydney M. Forrester RAAF, Sgt John C. Coombes RAF,
Sgt Herbert Freeman Jowett RAF, Sgt Arthur Rolfe RAF and Sgt Ernest A. C. Thirkettle
RAF perished and remains in the aircraft to this day.
Due to not being officially laid to rest the whole crew are commemorated on the
Runnymede Memorial.
S/Ldr Carl R. Kelaher
(Via Bent Bogøe Anthonisen)
W/O Cyril R. Walsh
During the night of the crash Ingeman Halkjær, together with a German soldier,
found part of a corpus, which the Wehrmacht burried at the edge of the field.
When the English War Grave Commision came to Stadil after the war Halkær pointed
out where the corpus had been buried and it was brought to Svinø by a Captain
Hornung.
On 13/6 1947 it was laid to rest in Grave number 97 in Svinø cemetery
as a Unknown Australian Observer.
Sgt John C. Coombes
A memorial stone have been erected on the crash site.
Sources: LBUK, AD, Report Ringkøbing police, BCL, AIR 27/1908, OK, Matthew Horan.
Night of the 3. and 4. September 1943
Lancaster III EE138 shot down 4/9-1943 near Stadil
Stirling III BK774 crashed in the North Sea /
Skagerak 4/9-1943
Lancaster III W4988 crashed Larös North West of
Helsingborg, Sweden 4/9 1943
Lancaster III JA713 crashed in the sea of Kattegat
off Tunø 4/9 1943
Back to 1943
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