Halifax lost at Ostaaijen (SE Achtmaal and SW Zundert) on 22-10-1943 (SGLO ref: T3023)

Sir,

The plane was shot down at 20.10 in the evening, and according to the info from, Airfield Gilze Rijen, that was in German hands at that time, they claimed that the plane was shot by flak, and got hit with the bombs still on board, and exploded.

The flak and searchlights for that part of the country where also stationed on Gilze Rijen at and around the Airfield.

The Airfield was in that time named Fliegerhorst Gilze Rijen.

If you need more info maybe it is possible to ask at the museum at Gilze Rijen, "the Tradition room".

They still have files and documents from that time, maybe that there is some info in it.

I also have a website for you of a museum in Achtmaal where the plane crashed.

They also wrote a story about it with exact places and circumstances of the crash.


http://www.militairhistorischmuseumachtmaal.nl/vliegtuig-route/
According there information the Plane indeed crashed in the Air by flak, they write:

"The Halifax LK959 ZL-D was scattered all over the crash site. Part of the aircraft, with two crew members in it, had already been broken down and was approximately 1500m away from the crash site (near Bakzakkenstraat and Bloken). The crew was spread over hundreds of meters. On Saturday afternoon, October 23, the mayor of Zundert was ordered by the Ortskommandant in Gilze-Rijen to recover the bodies. This salvage was carried out by the Zundert First Aid. The crew is buried in Zuylen cemetery in Princenhage and reburied after the war at the English and Canadian War Cemetery in Bergen op Zoom."

There is a pin made out of plexiglass of that plane, made by then a small boy, who had it on with the liberation of Zundert by the Americans.


If you need more info you can send me a mail, I will be glad to help you!


Greetings, Paul

where were the crew members buried? how many were there? from where? My mother attended to some Allied airmen when they crashed near Achtmaal; she didn't speak of it, only when we annually unpacked the box of memorabilia, containing the bright yellow silk blouse that she had made from the piece of parachute material she received (but I never saw her wear the blouse). It is possible it was this plane. Any ideas?