Vickers Wellington Ic (T2514 BL-D) on a mission to Karlsruhe on 1941-08-26
On Monday, 25 August 1941, (a part of) the aircraft of the 40 squadron (RAF), took off for a mission to Karlsruhe in Germany from a station (airfield) in or near Alconbury.
One of the crew members was Sergeant T Appleby. He departed for his mission at 20:43.
He flew with a Vickers Wellington (type Ic, with serial T2514 and code BL-D). His mission and of the other crew members was planned for Tuesday, 26 August 1941.
A letter by Nico Rupert:
Hello Fred,I have more details of the Wellington T2514 B crash. I tell you the story as best I can because my English isn´t very good.I´m Nico Ruppert, 29 years old and I´m from Oberdonven in Luxembourg. I know about this crash since 2003, a member of an association of history from Oberdonven and Niederdonven (called: Donwer Geschichtsfrenn) told me the story and gave me the advice to askmy neighbour for more information.My neighbor, Mr. Alphonse Demuth, born 1927 in Oberdonven told me the story in summer 2016: In a stormy night at 3 o´clock in the morning, the 26th of August 1941 the stableman of Mr. Demuth´s father Eduard noticed a fire in a field near Niederdonven and run there to see what happened. A bomber with 2 engines had crashed and the 6 occupants died. An hour later, german soldiers were there to block the field because a lot of civilians were watching the wrack. Mr. Demuth remembers that german soldiers needed 3 horses to pull one of engines out of a pothole witch was 1,80 m deep. Monday, the 12th of September 2016 I retourned with Mr. Demuth in my Willy´s Jeep to the crash site in order to give me more information 4 details.Monday, the 28th of November 2016 I retourned with the association of history and a metal detector to the field an we found a lot of parts of the Wellington T2514 BL-D and a data plate of the engine starter of the left engine. Currently we planning with the association and the municipal administration a memorial for the 6 fallen soldiers next to the crash site. These are pictures I took, feel free to share them. I have more information and pictures from 1941witch are the content of a brochure but unfortunately I don´t have the permission to share them at the moment. As soon as I have the permission, i´ll send them to you. Names of the deceased soldiers:Donald Frederick Youldson, Wallace Herbert Cole, Tom Appleby, John Davidson Duthie William Fisher, Edward Charles Shea In case you have more details about the soldiers´ mission I would be very happy if you shared them with me. I´m looking forward to hear from you!Many thanks, merry Christmas!NicoInformation about aircraft who did not return from this mission can be found here. Information about the other crew members on this flight can be found at this website (Aircrew Remembered). This website also provides the flight information for this record.
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Your photos and your information are very welcome! The young do care and with your help we keep up the good work.