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Lancaster III LM479 crashed Dejbjerg 30/8 1944.
The aircraft belonged to RAF 101 Squadron Bomber Command and was coded SR-F.
T/o 21:30 Ludford Magna. OP: Stettin.
On the return flight LM479 was attacked by a German night fighter and crashed at
Dejbjerg. Apparently it exploded in the air and crashed in the fields belonging
to Kjærgaard farm at 03:58 hours.
The crashsite
The night fighter was a JU 88G-1 of 6./NJG 3 piloted by Oberleutnant Rudolf
Szardenings.
(Petrick via Boiten)
Oberleutnant Rudolf Szardenings (center)
and crew.
The Wehrmacht buried what could be found of the crew next to the crash site.
On 7/9 the Wehrmacht had finished collecting the metal from the Lancaster and
had left the area.
Two Danish police constables now searched the area and soon realised that the
Germans had not been very thorough in their search for human remains and a
search was organized under the command of Captain Kisbye of C.B.U. in Herning.
Several body parts were found and together with the content of the “German”
grave it was placed in four coffins and taken to the cemetery in Dejbjerg where
members of the resistance movement had dug a grave.
On 14/9 1944 at 19:30 a ceremony was held by Vicar Hans Pedersen and the crew
were laid to rest.
During the search at the crash site two ID tags had been found and these were
now given to the Vicar to keep until the end of the war when they could be used
to identify the crew members.
The tags read OWENS W and T FOSTER. To Fosters tag was attached a good luck
charm.
Pilot F/O Thomas Foster RCAF
Navigator F/S Alfred R. Chalmers RCAF
The crew were Pilot F/O Thomas Foster RCAF, Flt. Engr. Sgt George F. Gibson,
Navigator F/S Alfred R. Chalmers RCAF, Air Bomber F/O Samuel A. Machenzie RCAF,
W.Op./ Air Gnr. P/O Hubert J. Linn RCAF, Air Bomber P/O Cyril Cousin, Air Gnr.
Sgt. Andrew Steward and Air Gnr. W/O William Owen.
The graves at Dejbjerg cemetery
Source: LBUK, AS 62-586, UA, BCL, AIR 27/803, CWRC, FAF.
Night of 29/30 August 1944
Groups
Squadrons
Combats
Lancaster I PA163 crashed into Lovns
Bredning bay 29/8 1944
Lancaster I LM184 crashed Aalestrup
29/8 1944
Lancaster III PB202 crashed at Førby
Hede heath 30/8 1944
Lancaster X KB709 crashed in the sea
of Kattegat 6 miles off the island of Anholt 30/8 1944
Lancaster III PB143 crashed at
Ingerslev / Estruplund 30/8 1944
Lancaster III NE144 ditched in the
sea of Kattegat off the island of Anholt 30/8 1944
Lancaster III EE193 crashed in the
sea of Kattegat 30/8 1944
Lancaster I ME718 crashed at Ove
30/8 1944
Lancaster III PB436 crashed Gunderup
30/8 1944
Lancaster I LM116 crashed near Karup
30/8 1944
Lancaster III LM479 crashed Dejbjerg
30/8 1944
Back to 1944
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