Post by phil82 on Aug 31, 2006 16:02:07 GMT 12
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THE LAST FLIGHT OF STIRLING W7624
After 64 years, Bomber Command's band of heroes can rest in peace
By Vanessa Allen
THEY were a milkman, a chemist, two clerks, two farmers and a schoolboy, thrown together by the chaos of war.For six decades they have been listed as missing in action, believed dead. But next week an extraordinary funeral will be held for the crew of a Second World War bomber shot down in 1942.On Thursday they will be honoured as brave young heroes who volunteered to fight Hitler's Nazis.Their surviving relatives have travelled from across the world to Delden in Holland see them buried together with full military honours, 64 years after their final, fatal flight.
Their RAF Stirling bomber crashed in a fireball after it was shot down by the Luftwaffe's notorious night fighters, and all seven of its crew died that night on August 27, 1942.Its wreckage remained buried deep beneath the ground until last year, when the doomed bomber finally gave up its secrets after months of painstaking excavation.Stirling W7624 had left its base at RAF Bourn in Cambridgeshire at 9pm, carrying a deadly payload of bombs to Hitler's Germany.But it never reached its destination. Just after midnight, from his home in the Dutch village of Bentelo, 13-year-old Hendrik Kleinsman saw it roar overhead towards the German border.He and his family regularly watched the nightly dogfights as the planes from the RAF's Bomber Command took on the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt fighters.Now, more than 60 years later, he recalls: "During the night you could see the searchlights that followed the bombers. They were attacked by German fighters. This plane was shot down by a German combat plane. It was a giant ball of fire."The huge bomber hit the ground with such force that its cockpit, engines and four 1,900lbs bombs were driven up to 15 metres into the sodden earth.The rear gunner, 24-year-old Glen Smith, baled out before the crash but there was not enough time for his parachute to open.His body was the only one ever found and identified. The others were believed to have been killed instantly in the crash.Investigators said the plane smashed into the ground in a deep dive, possibly as its young pilot, Flight Sergeant Hugh Barton-Smith, struggled to regain control. Of the 306 aircraft that took part in their mission - a raid on the city of Kassel, a strategic target because of its weapons factories - 31 came down that night.All but one of the Stirling's crew were reservists who had volunteered to fight for their country. Their average age was just 24.Most had only joined in the previous two years to bolster the dwindling RAF numbers after the Battle of Britain. Two were fathers and one, New Zealander Leonard Moss, had only just discovered his new wife was pregnant with their child. Sgt Moss, 28, trained in Canada and arrived in Britain in July 1941. Within a month he met Josephine Hicken from Coventry, and fell in love.They were married in December and in July 1942 Josephine wrote to Moss's sister in New Zealand to tell her she was pregnant."We are hoping hard it will be a boy. I shall name him after Len, if he is," she wrote.For weeks after the crash she prayed her husband had been taken prisoner and would return alive. "They say there is very little hope of him being alive," she wrote to her sister-in-law. "But I cannot give up hope."The stress put an intolerable strain on her pregnancy and her baby - a girl - was stillborn.
Before his death Moss had asked a fellow New Zealander, Robert Johnson, to take care of his young wife if he were killed. When Johnson learned of the crash he wrote to Josephine and the pair corresponded and slowly fell in love. They only married after the fate of the Stirling was known and eventually had two children.
Captain Hans Spierings of the Royal Netherland Air Force, who led the excavation of the Stirling, says the burial will help the families of the lost crew, because it will give the men a final resting place.Until now, they have only had their names on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, which honours the 20,000 other servicemen who were lost but never given proper burials.
Capt Spierings was first told of the crash site in 2003 by a team of amateur historians.Tests on the area showed massive amounts of metal buried deep below the ground and there were fears that the four unexploded bombs could become unstable and detonate, potentially destroying the nearby village.Capt Spierings and his team took six weeks to clear the ground and began excavating in April, 2005.The plane was identified by serial numbers on its engines and the RAF then began the painstaking task of tracing the men's next of kin.Two bodies had been found soon after the crash and buried next to Rear Gunner Smith in Delden, but were never identified. Three more sets of human remains were found in the wreckage during the excavation, and a seventh set remain missing. Rather than carry out DNA testing to identify the remains, the families of the men asked that they be buried together in a single coffin, next to Rear Gunner Smith.
It will follow the RAF tradition of the men who flew together and died together being buried together, as part of a wider family.
The burial will be marked with a fly-past by a Tornado jet from 15 Squadron, the same squadron to which the Stirling and its crew belonged.Wing Commander Iain Chalmers, who now commands the squadron, said: "These men depended on each other for their lives, as we do today.The bond and trust between them was immense. When our recruits fly with the 15 Squadron badge on their uniforms they carry this history with them.It's part of our ethos and morale. That's why it's important for us to honour our forebearers."It is so important we bury these men with full honours".
PILOT
HUGH Barton-Smith, of Sutton Coldfield, was a chemist who enlisted in November 1940 after the Battle of Britain. He married his wife May in February 1941.Their son Shaun was born a year later and is expected to attend the funeral. May Bar ton-Smith is dead.
NAVIGATOR
KENNETH Wakefield, 20, carried the heavy responsibility of navigating the bomber, despite his youth. He was working as a clerk in Bedford and living with his parents until he enlisted.
Wakefield was single when he died, but his cousin is expected to attend the funeral.
AIR BOMBER
LEONARD Moss, 28, was born in New Zealand, left school at 15 and worked on his father's farm until he enlisted in 1939 and flew to Canada for his training.His wife Josephine remarried but died herself in 1999. Several of his nieces and nephews have travelled from New Zealand for the funeral.
FLT ENGINEER
JOHN Robinson left school at 16 in 1935 and enlisted immediately, rising to the rank of Flight Sergeant. He was 23.His father, a merchant seaman also died in the war. John's wife Ethel lives in Australia and is not expected to attend, but their son Hedley will be there.
UPPER GUNNER
AT 30, Frederick Talbot was the oldest of the airmen killed and was working as a milkman before he enlisted in August 1940.He had successfully completed 47 bombing missions before his death.His elderly brother still lives in Surrey, but is not expected to at tend.
RADIO OP
PETER Sharman, 19, was the youngest crewmember aboard Stirling W76 24. He had been working as a clerk in Liverpool until he decided to enlist when he was just 18.His elderly sister lives in France, but cannot attend the funeral. His cousins are expected to be there.
REAR GUNNER
GLEN Smith, 24, was the only airman whose body was found after the crash.His family was not told of his burial until 1948, six years after his death.His cousins plan to at tend the funeral Smith was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and was working on a farm when he enlisted in 1939.
THE LAST FLIGHT OF STIRLING W7624
After 64 years, Bomber Command's band of heroes can rest in peace
By Vanessa Allen
THEY were a milkman, a chemist, two clerks, two farmers and a schoolboy, thrown together by the chaos of war.For six decades they have been listed as missing in action, believed dead. But next week an extraordinary funeral will be held for the crew of a Second World War bomber shot down in 1942.On Thursday they will be honoured as brave young heroes who volunteered to fight Hitler's Nazis.Their surviving relatives have travelled from across the world to Delden in Holland see them buried together with full military honours, 64 years after their final, fatal flight.
Their RAF Stirling bomber crashed in a fireball after it was shot down by the Luftwaffe's notorious night fighters, and all seven of its crew died that night on August 27, 1942.Its wreckage remained buried deep beneath the ground until last year, when the doomed bomber finally gave up its secrets after months of painstaking excavation.Stirling W7624 had left its base at RAF Bourn in Cambridgeshire at 9pm, carrying a deadly payload of bombs to Hitler's Germany.But it never reached its destination. Just after midnight, from his home in the Dutch village of Bentelo, 13-year-old Hendrik Kleinsman saw it roar overhead towards the German border.He and his family regularly watched the nightly dogfights as the planes from the RAF's Bomber Command took on the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt fighters.Now, more than 60 years later, he recalls: "During the night you could see the searchlights that followed the bombers. They were attacked by German fighters. This plane was shot down by a German combat plane. It was a giant ball of fire."The huge bomber hit the ground with such force that its cockpit, engines and four 1,900lbs bombs were driven up to 15 metres into the sodden earth.The rear gunner, 24-year-old Glen Smith, baled out before the crash but there was not enough time for his parachute to open.His body was the only one ever found and identified. The others were believed to have been killed instantly in the crash.Investigators said the plane smashed into the ground in a deep dive, possibly as its young pilot, Flight Sergeant Hugh Barton-Smith, struggled to regain control. Of the 306 aircraft that took part in their mission - a raid on the city of Kassel, a strategic target because of its weapons factories - 31 came down that night.All but one of the Stirling's crew were reservists who had volunteered to fight for their country. Their average age was just 24.Most had only joined in the previous two years to bolster the dwindling RAF numbers after the Battle of Britain. Two were fathers and one, New Zealander Leonard Moss, had only just discovered his new wife was pregnant with their child. Sgt Moss, 28, trained in Canada and arrived in Britain in July 1941. Within a month he met Josephine Hicken from Coventry, and fell in love.They were married in December and in July 1942 Josephine wrote to Moss's sister in New Zealand to tell her she was pregnant."We are hoping hard it will be a boy. I shall name him after Len, if he is," she wrote.For weeks after the crash she prayed her husband had been taken prisoner and would return alive. "They say there is very little hope of him being alive," she wrote to her sister-in-law. "But I cannot give up hope."The stress put an intolerable strain on her pregnancy and her baby - a girl - was stillborn.
Before his death Moss had asked a fellow New Zealander, Robert Johnson, to take care of his young wife if he were killed. When Johnson learned of the crash he wrote to Josephine and the pair corresponded and slowly fell in love. They only married after the fate of the Stirling was known and eventually had two children.
Captain Hans Spierings of the Royal Netherland Air Force, who led the excavation of the Stirling, says the burial will help the families of the lost crew, because it will give the men a final resting place.Until now, they have only had their names on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, which honours the 20,000 other servicemen who were lost but never given proper burials.
Capt Spierings was first told of the crash site in 2003 by a team of amateur historians.Tests on the area showed massive amounts of metal buried deep below the ground and there were fears that the four unexploded bombs could become unstable and detonate, potentially destroying the nearby village.Capt Spierings and his team took six weeks to clear the ground and began excavating in April, 2005.The plane was identified by serial numbers on its engines and the RAF then began the painstaking task of tracing the men's next of kin.Two bodies had been found soon after the crash and buried next to Rear Gunner Smith in Delden, but were never identified. Three more sets of human remains were found in the wreckage during the excavation, and a seventh set remain missing. Rather than carry out DNA testing to identify the remains, the families of the men asked that they be buried together in a single coffin, next to Rear Gunner Smith.
It will follow the RAF tradition of the men who flew together and died together being buried together, as part of a wider family.
The burial will be marked with a fly-past by a Tornado jet from 15 Squadron, the same squadron to which the Stirling and its crew belonged.Wing Commander Iain Chalmers, who now commands the squadron, said: "These men depended on each other for their lives, as we do today.The bond and trust between them was immense. When our recruits fly with the 15 Squadron badge on their uniforms they carry this history with them.It's part of our ethos and morale. That's why it's important for us to honour our forebearers."It is so important we bury these men with full honours".
PILOT
HUGH Barton-Smith, of Sutton Coldfield, was a chemist who enlisted in November 1940 after the Battle of Britain. He married his wife May in February 1941.Their son Shaun was born a year later and is expected to attend the funeral. May Bar ton-Smith is dead.
NAVIGATOR
KENNETH Wakefield, 20, carried the heavy responsibility of navigating the bomber, despite his youth. He was working as a clerk in Bedford and living with his parents until he enlisted.
Wakefield was single when he died, but his cousin is expected to attend the funeral.
AIR BOMBER
LEONARD Moss, 28, was born in New Zealand, left school at 15 and worked on his father's farm until he enlisted in 1939 and flew to Canada for his training.His wife Josephine remarried but died herself in 1999. Several of his nieces and nephews have travelled from New Zealand for the funeral.
FLT ENGINEER
JOHN Robinson left school at 16 in 1935 and enlisted immediately, rising to the rank of Flight Sergeant. He was 23.His father, a merchant seaman also died in the war. John's wife Ethel lives in Australia and is not expected to attend, but their son Hedley will be there.
UPPER GUNNER
AT 30, Frederick Talbot was the oldest of the airmen killed and was working as a milkman before he enlisted in August 1940.He had successfully completed 47 bombing missions before his death.His elderly brother still lives in Surrey, but is not expected to at tend.
RADIO OP
PETER Sharman, 19, was the youngest crewmember aboard Stirling W76 24. He had been working as a clerk in Liverpool until he decided to enlist when he was just 18.His elderly sister lives in France, but cannot attend the funeral. His cousins are expected to be there.
REAR GUNNER
GLEN Smith, 24, was the only airman whose body was found after the crash.His family was not told of his burial until 1948, six years after his death.His cousins plan to at tend the funeral Smith was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and was working on a farm when he enlisted in 1939.