ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 53505
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 November 1940 |
| Time: | 05:00 LT |
| Type: | Handley Page Hampden Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 50 Sqn RAF |
| Registration: | X2907 |
| MSN: | VN-M |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Ageler Es, Agelo, Overijssel -
 Netherlands
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Lindholme, North Yorkshire |
| RAF Lindholme, North Yorkshire |
5/6 November
MAGDEBURG
From 23.33 hours onward, eight aircraft took off for a bombing mission to Magdeburg synthetic oil plant. Weather was appalling with 10/10th cloud and rain for the entire trip with no aircraft seeing the ground for the whole journey.
P4408 suffered severe icing and despite trying to avoid the weather, returned to Base safely after six hours in the air. Two further aircraft turned back due to unserviceability; one with inoperative Airspeed Indicator and Artificial Horizon the second with wireless failure, both returning safely to base. Four aircraft bombed on estimated target points, or alternate target (Bremen), due to being unable to locate the Primary target due to cloud; no results were noted and these four aircraft returned safely to base
Hampden X2907 and crew of
Pilot 41759 Pilot Officer Colin James Ray Walker RAF (aged 25),
Wireless Op/Air Gunner 755025 Sgt. Douglas Owen Cole RAFVR (aged 20),
Pilot 742817 Sgt. Kenyon Stafford Gowland RAF and
Wireless OP/Air Gunner 905343 Sgt. Kenneth Emm RAFVR (aged 23)
left at 00.45 hours on the 6th November. After receiving the W/T ‘GO’ signal nothing further was heard from the crew. All were later confirmed as killed in action. Possible crash site is Groot Agelo near Valkenberg, Province of Overijssel
Municipality of Dinkelland, Netherlands (at approximate Coordinates: 52°23′33″N 6°53′10″E). A local resistance member, Herman Budde tells the story, via his son’s webpages. The following is a rough translation of that text from Dutch into English (see link #4 for the original Dutch text)
"Crashed bomber in Agelo
In the photo archive of the Budde family some photos are kept on which Herman appears during a funeral of killed English airmen. He is part of a honorary platoon that fired salute shots during the funeral. It is also interesting to read that the Germans also provided wreaths and that they commissioned a funeral with military honours.
Here is the report of this event as described in the book Ootmarsum 1940-1945.
In the early morning of Wednesday, November 6, 1940, a bomber crashed in the vicinity of Valkenberg. It was an English bomber who was returning from Germany to his home base in England. The four crew members were killed.
The plane had taken off from Lindholme airport (Yorkshire) in the morning at 11.45 am in England. Lindholme in Yorkshire was home to the 50 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, the R.A.F. The aircraft was a twin-engine bomber of the brand Handley Page Hampden, type X2907, serial number GH 314.
The crew members were on board the machine:
41759 Pilot officer Colin James Ray Walker, aged 25 years. Captain at the Royal Air Force.
742817 Sergeant pilot Kenyon Stafford Gowland, age unknown, Royal Air Force.
905343 Air gunner Kenneth Emm, aged 23, Royal Air Force.
755025 Wireless operator/air-gunner Douglas Owen Cole, aged 20 years, Royal Air Force.
The mission that the crew had received was the bombing of the Synthetic oil mills at Magdeburg in Germany. This city is located in the former East Germany (GDR).
Funeral
On Monday, November 11, 1940, W.H. Dingeldin in his diary: "The mayor (A.J.E.E.C. van der Heyden of Doornenburg) tells me that this afternoon he must be present at the funeral of the occupants of the plane, which crashed on the Ageler Esch. Three persons, including an officer, were at a short distance from the wreck, the fourth had been squeezed in the machine, but the Germans had made no effort to take the body out. When flying the bombs in the air on Friday, this corpse had been torn to pieces.
In Ootmarsum they have assembled in silence of 100, to have missed masses for 2 of the victims of this disaster, which R.K. goods". The four crew members were placed on the ground under great interest. The inhabitants of Ootmarsum not only collected money for reading masses, but also to buy flowers and wreaths for it. According to eyewitnesses, there were more than 30 wreaths and flower arrangements on the 4 graves; here was one wreath of the German occupier.
The Germans also made sure that the 4 English warriors were buried with military honor. So there were salute shots on that Wednesday morning.
Every year children from primary schools in Ootmarsum lay wreaths on the 4 graves"
The four crew were buried at Ootmarsum Protestant Cemetery, Overijssel, with full military honours and with local Civic dignitaries present, on the afternoon of Monday, 11 November. Some 30 floral wreaths were paid for by local inhabitants and these along with a wreath donated by the German occupiers were presented at the funeral.
The same crew had survived baling out of Hampden X3000 over Barton-le-Street, Malton just seven days earlier. (See the entry for X3000).
Sources:
1. http://www.nimh.nl/nl/images/1940%20sec_tcm5-7281.pdf
2. http://www.luchtoorlogboventwente.nl/401105RAF.php
3. http://www.no-50-and-no-61-squadrons-association.co.uk/app/download/5802508903/50+SQUADRON+ORB+1939+1943+Revision+1.pdf
4. http://paulbuddehistory.com/herman-budde/oorlogsjaar-1940/ (Dutch text)
5. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york40/x3000.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groot_Agelo
7. https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/58840/Memorial-Handley-Page-Hampden-X2907.htm
8. https://studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/05-06-11-1940-sglo-t0896-handley-page-hampden-mk-i-x2907-vn/
9. http://oorlogsdodendinkelland.nl/squadrons-engels/50e-squadron-raf/
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2820608/walker,-colin-james-ray/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2820607/gowland,-kenyon-stafford/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2820606/emm,-kenneth/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2820605/cole,-douglas-owen/
14. https://verliesregister.studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/rs.php?aircraft=&sglo=T0896&date=&location=&pn=&unit=&name=&cemetry=&airforce=&target=&area=&airfield=
15. Google Maps
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 26 July 1940 | L4139 | 50 Sqn RAF | 0 | RAF Finningley, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire |  |
sub |
| 5 April 1941 | AD753 | 50 Sqn RAF | 4 | Celtic Sea, off Ile d’Ouessant (Ushant), Brittany |  |
w/o |
| 30 June 1941 | X3133 | 50 Sqn RAF | 4 | near Haseldorf, Schleswig-Holstein |  |
w/o |
| 22 February 1942 | AE394 | 50 Sqn RAF | 3 | Haleys Terrace York | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2008 11:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 09-Apr-2016 12:52 | gerard57 | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 11-Dec-2017 13:40 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 23-Dec-2017 18:02 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport] |
| 08-Jul-2018 00:56 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Nov-2018 18:59 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 23-Oct-2020 17:28 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Location, Source] |
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