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* Report: July 15th, 2023: The Belgians Parade to the London Cenotaph *

RAF aircraft's crash sites in Province of Limburg:
Bommershoven

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Last update: 25/06/23


Elegy to
the Heroes of Silence


* To the 97 Squadron *
* To the crew of JB367-OF-S *
* To the monument erected in remembrance *
* Cemetery where rest the crew *

Crash site of Lancaster JB367-OF-S
18/11/1943

aircraft
cest raf squadron
Unit: 97 Squadron
Aircraft: Lancaster
Code: JB367-OF-S
Base: Bourn
Mission: Berlin
Crew officer: P/O Albert A. Johnson
Incident: Hit by Flak, crashed after been abandoned

Location: (Prov. Limburg)

crash

Facts

Lancaster MkIII JB367 OF-S ('S'for Sugar) was shot down by flak on the way home from a Berlin operation. The aircraft fell from 20,000 to 6,000 feet before Johnson regained sufficient control to allow the rest of the crew time to bail out. In doing so, he sacrificed his own life, as did so many of the bomber pilots. The Belgian report states that Johnson was still at the controls at 1800 to 1200 feet. Albert Andrew Johnson was only 27 years old at the time of his death.
Successful evaders was exceedingly rare. For 97 Squadron, for the whole of 1943, only nine men escaped capture after baling out or crash-landing in enemy territory, and eventually made their way back to England. Four of these were from this crew, shot down by flak on the Berlin operation.
The Lancaster fell from 20,000 to 6,000 feet before Johnson regained sufficient control to allow the rest of the crew time to bail out. In doing so, he sacrificed his own life, as did so many of the bomber pilots. He had been a last-minute replacement for their usual skipper, an Australian pilot known as Snowy Jones, who had been barred from flying by the Medical Officer because of sinus trouble.

crash

A propoller of JB367 still laying in the park of the castel Tornaco where the aircraft crashed.

Sources:
RAF PATHFINDERS ARCHIVE
Medals of England
The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
Aircrew Remembered
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