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Date: | Sunday 30 June 1940 |
Time: | 04:00 approx |
Type: | Handley Page Hampden Mk I |
Owner/operator: | 61 Sqn RAF |
Registration: | P4341 |
MSN: | QR- |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | between Schipluiden and Abtswoude, Delft, Zuid-Holland -
Netherlands
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:Handley Page Hampden Mk.I P4341 of 61 Squadron, RAF: Destroyed on 30/6/1940 when Shot down by Flak/AAA, and crashed between Abtswoude and Schipluiden, 5 km south-west of Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. All four crew killed:
Pilot: Pilot Officer Alfred George Pascoe (Australian in the RAF), Service Number 40746, aged 23) (Commission Gazetted : Tuesday 24 May, 1938)
Navigator: Pilot Officer Alexander Campbell Ennis (Service Number 70896, aged 25)
W/Op,Air Gunner Sgt. Frederick Pursglove (Service Number 516705, aged 26)
W/Op Air Gunner Sgt. James Walter Greig (Service Number 548517, aged 21)
According to a rough translation from Dutch into English of the published source (see link #1 for the original Dutch text):
"In the early morning of June 30, 1940, the inhabitants of the Abtswoudsepolder, who were then still under the municipality ship, were startled by a towering blow, some explosions and then a dead silence. On the land of D. van Winden an English Hampden-bomber had crashed. The device was on its way to a target in Germany when it was hit by German AA guns.
At the place where the plane crashed, German soldiers placed a wooden cross. That cross mentioned in German that there on the date mentioned four English pilots had found the "Aviators death". Their bodies were so mutilated, that identification was no longer possible.
Later the remains of the aviators on Earth were ordered on the General cemetery of the ship. During the ceremony, German soldiers fired above the tomb greetings shots. The war was still young and there was still a certain soldiers chivalry between the warring parties, at least at a lower level. As the war progressed, the chivalry took place for hatred and intransigence.
After the war, the Netherlands War Graves Foundation on the tomb created a memorial stone, as on all English war cemeteries. The stone indicates the date of perishing and mentions that a pilot of the RAF is buried in that place, whose name is only known to God. A quiet resting place where for decades geraniums flourished in the tomb maintained by our church. This event has given the Schipluidense General Cemetery The official status of War Cemetery.
Investigations in 1994 have led us to almost certain who were buried in the war grave. Almost 55 years after they left their names on a separate stone: A.G. Pascoe, A.C. Ennis, F. Pursglove and J.W. Greig.
Sources:
1.
http://www.nimh.nl/nl/images/1940%20sec_tcm5-7281.pdf 2. Chorley W.R. Bomber Command Losses 1939-1940 page 83
3.
https://studiegroepluchtoorlog.nl/29-30-06-1940-sglo-t0736-handley-page-hampden-mk-i-p4341-qr/ 4.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1803950/pascoe,-alfred-george/ 5.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1269634/ennis,-alexander-campell/ 6.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1804792/pursglove,-fred/ 7.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1798843/greig,-james-walter/ 8. Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one
9. Rob Davis Bomber Command Losses Database
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
10 February 1941 |
P4409 |
61 Sqn RAF |
4 |
Bluestone Plantation, near Cawston, Norfok, England |
|
w/o |
9 August 1941 |
AE263 |
61 Sqn RAF |
4 |
North Sea off Schleswig-Holstein |
|
w/o |
9 August 1941 |
X3127 |
61 Sqn RAF |
1 |
Revensdorf, Lindau, Schleswig-Holstein |
|
w/o |
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
17-Dec-2008 11:45 |
ASN archive |
Added |
11-Dec-2017 13:40 |
Laurent Rizzotti |
Updated [Aircraft type] |
25-Jun-2018 00:41 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
03-Nov-2018 09:05 |
Nepa |
Updated [Operator, Operator] |
28-Jun-2019 07:45 |
TigerTimon |
Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Location, Source] |
18-Jun-2022 03:22 |
Ron Averes |
Updated [Location] |
29-Jun-2023 06:33 |
Rob Davis |
Updated [[Location]] |
01-Nov-2023 07:12 |
Anon. |
Updated [[[Location]]] |