Date:	Sunday 23 April 1944
Time:	02:10 LT
Type:	Handley Page Halifax Mk III
Owner/operator:	429 (Bison) Sqn RCAF
Registration:	LK802
MSN:	AL-F
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 7
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Sint Elisabeth polder, Herkingen, Zuid-Holland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Leeming
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Took off from RAF Leeming at 23:00 hrs for an operation to Düsseldorf in Germany.
The aircraft was set on fire in a sudden attack from below and behind by an (unidentified) Junkers Ju 88; crashed into a flooded area near Herkingen (Zuid- Holland), on the island of Overflakkee and 7 km SSW of Middelharnie. Most of the wreckage remained submerged for the next thirteen months. Of the three who died in the crash two were never recovered but Sgt Austin is buried in Herkingen General Cemetery. Commissioned, Sgt Crosswell RCAF was shot down while trying to escape from Stalag-Luft II late on 13 April 1945 and he died the next day. Akin to the two who were never recovered, his name is perpetuated on the panels of the Runnymede Memorial.

Crew:-
Pilot : Flying Officer James Francis Fennessey RCAF J/25009 [Killed] Bergen op Zoom RCAF cemetery in Noord-Brabant; grave 1 H 12 / body recovered 15th June 1945
Navigator : Pilot Officer Alexander Achtymichuk RCAF J/87053 : Commission Gazetted Tuesday 19 November, 1940) [Killed]
Bomb Aimer : Flying Officer Robert Bruce Low RCAF J/27125 [PoW]
Wireless Operator : Master Sergeant (USAAF) A F Kempton USAAF [PoW]
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner : Flight Sergeant Herbert Ingle Austin RAFVR 1005440 [Killed] Herkingen cemetery / body recovered 15th June 1945
Mid-Upper Gunner : Sergeant Willard James Miller RCAF 194068 [PoW]
Rear Gunner : Flying Officer Percy Bruce Crosswell RCAF J/88362 [PoW, died later] Runnymede Memorial / prisoner of war, died 14th April 1945 trying to escape

Oliver Clutton-Brock and Raymond Compton's excellent 2013 book 'The Long Road' lists him as having been commissioned from Sergeant with the service number of R191256. (Page 298. Please see source below).

The same book also describes the shooting incident and has it having taken place on the night of 13/14 April 1945 during an escape from Stalag IIIA.

During an air raid on Potsdam, Crosswell, Sergeant Allan Mac Naught RCAF and nineteen year old  Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Ralph Johnson RAFVR decided - against the advice of the camp's Escape Committee - to escape through the wire on the north side of the camp at around 2300.

They were spotted and fired at. Johnson and Crosswell were hit. Johnson died immediately and Crosswell - fatally wounded - died some two hours later early on 14 April.

Mac Naught managed to get back to his barracks undetected. (Page 264. Please see source below).

The book also states that both the dead men - Johnson and Crosswell - were buried in the camp's cemetery at 10.30 on 16 April, although today Crosswell has no known grave. (Page 265. Please see source below).

1. Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 part two
2.https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T3614&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
3. Google Maps
4. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1944 Page 181.
5. http://www.aircrewremembered.com/fennessey-james-francis.html
6. http://www.backtonormandy.org/maps/maps-1944/april-44/214-overview-day-by-day-1944-04/3036-23-04-44.html
7. https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://wingstovictory.nl/database/database_detail-du.php%3Fwtv_id%3D381&prev=search
8. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/231570/percy-bruce-crosswell
9. 'The Long Road' Oliver Clutton-Brock and Raymond Compton (Grub Street) 2013.
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2201715/geoffrey-ralph-johnson
11. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

29 December 1943

JD318

429 (Bison) Sqn RCAF

5

Vriezenveenseweg, Geesteren, Overijssel

w/o

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Dec-2008 11:45	ASN archive	Added
10-Jun-2016 07:37	Anon.	Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
08-Oct-2018 18:17	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Destination airport, Operator]
14-Oct-2018 15:49	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
01-Apr-2020 11:54	TigerTimon	Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative]
13-Nov-2022 15:49	Richard	Updated [Source, Narrative]
13-Nov-2022 19:01	Richard	Updated [Narrative]
30-Apr-2023 07:01	Rob Davis	Updated [[Narrative]]
22-Apr-2024 06:57	Rob Davis	Updated [Source, Narrative]