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

RAF aircraft's crash sites in Province of Oost-Vlanderen:
Hundelgem

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Last update: 25/06/23


Elegy to
the Heroes of Silence


* To the 451 Squadron *
* To the crew of SM333 *
* To the monument erected in remembrance *
* Cemetery where rest the crew *

Crash site of Spitfire SM333
14/01/1945

aircraft
crest raf squadron
Unit: 451 Squadron
Aircraft: Spitfire
Code: SM333
Base:
Mission: Saarbrücken
Crew officer: F/Lt Wallis J D
Incident: Collided with another RAF Spitfire

Location: (Prov. Oost Vlanderen)

crash

Facts

On 14-1-1945 two Spitfires of RAAF 451 Squadron collided over Ostend, Belgium. Flt Lt John Wallis in Spitfire SM333 was killed in the accident, P/O Newberry in Spitfire SM384 survived and was cared in the hospital of Oostende.
A villager mentioned that an Allied fighter also went down there in the year 1945… unfortunately I have very little info on that accident:
Before crashing, the pilot bailed out but was killed whilst hitting a tree (one supposes that the chute did not open completely). The fighter plane itself lost both wings during the sliding between two trees and the engine of it ditched in the soft verge of the Beerlegemsebaan (N415).
One supposes that it was a RAF fighter, but we don’t have any proof of that: no picture of the crash, nor any piece of the wreckage has been discovered, until now. The local police station ( Gendarmerie) in Munkzwalm which assured the surveillance of the wreck, has been closed down since the Police Services in Belgium are been reformed, so it will be very difficult to discover any information about the crash!
The repport sais excactely:
“On January 14, 1945 at approximately 13.50 hr. (German wintertime) in Hundelgem – a small village near Ghent – a British pilot crashed with an English fighter (type unknown). The pilot got out of the plane, but died since his parachute did not open. I, at that time was a boy of 12 years old, got very impressed by that accident. Local police pronounced the pilot’s name as John(ny) Waiters. It may well be that the name is incorrectly spelled. Few people at that time spoke English properly. The body of the named soldier was recovered by British ground troupes. …. “

Sources:
12 Oclock Talk
The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
Aircrew Remembered
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