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CRASH STIRLING LK195, NOVEMBER 1944

'MAY WE BE WORTHY OF THIS GREAT SACRIFICE'

Short Stirling Mk IV

The night of 4 and 5 November 1944

In the night of 4 and 5 November 1944 a lonely Stirling Mk IV, LK195 ploughs overthe IJsselmeer. It belonged to the No. 190 Squadron and left Great Dunow earlythat evening. Her mission for that night was to drop supplies to the Dutchresistance in the providence of North-Holland. Witnesses from the region heard aplane a few times circling overhead. The Stirling was clearly searching for thedrop-zone near Venhuizen a village nearby Enkhuizen. It flew extreme low, FreekLuider, a local blacksmith, told later that he heard the propwash! Luider wascollecting supplies from an earlier drop that night. He had no time to investigatethe crash site that evening. The next morning Luider visited the dike near thecorner locally known as Hondenhemel. Here the unfortunate Stirling hit the waterof the IJsselmeer, just in front of the dike. The Germans recovered most of thedead crew and salvaged some bigger parts of the plane. The killed crew were laid to rest in the cemetery of in Enkhuizen. In the spring of 1946, Freek Luider en JanSijm undertook an effort to salvage the complete Stirling. In the tail turret they found gunner Flying Officer H.E. Evans. He was put to rest at the cemetery inBovenkarspel. Containers with guns and ammunition was temporarily stored in a nearby pumping-engine house. Luider himself kept a revolver as a souvenir, butdecided to bring it in because he got tired of register it every year. The salvagedfuselage was sold tot a local scrapdealer.

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THE CREW:

Flying Officer E.D. Hodgson, pilot Royal Canadian Air Force (cemeteryEnkhuizen)

Flying Officer E.J. Rusenstrom, navigator Royal Canadian Air Force (cemeteryEnkhuizen)

Flying Officer G.L. Towns, bomb-aimer, Royal Air Force (cemetery Enkhuizen)

Warrant Officer W. King, wireless operator/air gunner, Royal Air Force (cemeteryEnkhuizen)

Sergeant R.H.G. Nevard, engineer, Royal Air Force (cemetery Enkhuizen)

Flying Officer H.E. Evans, tail gunner , Royal Air Force (cemetery Bovenkarspel)

The headstones in Enkhuizen

The Cargo: 14 or 15 containers with the following supplies:

120 Stenguns (inclusive ammunition clips)620 empty ammunition clips54.150 pieces of 9 mm ammunition256 hand grenades

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4 Brenguns (incl. 7.168 rounds)2 Bazooka's (incl. 28 rockets) 15 pistols (incl. 750 bullets)140 tins with corned beef 12 tins with margarine10 tins with biscuits en chocolate

THE FINAL SALVAGE

Collectors and local divers discovered the wreck over the years that followed. Stenguns, handguns and ammunition that were well sealed in grease disappeared in criminal circles. In 1990 there were still divers on the wrecksearching for parts en still they collected guns and ammunition. The government took action together with two salvage firms and the Dutch airforce and navy toclear the final pieces of the bomber. The first parts came from the water on the April 24, 1991 and on the 17th of May the hole salvage was done. In a costly half a million guilders (circa 200.000 Euro) operation it brought the salvage team somealuminium, a couple of thousand bullets, three grenades, clips, Brenguns and 15 kilo's of explosives. The containers were over the years destroyed and of theengines there was no trace. They did find some old cannonballs that were fired in anger a couple of hundred years earlier.

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A piece of the Stirling LK195

THE HISTORY OF No 190 SQUADRON

Moto: 'Ex Tenebris' (Through Darkness)

No 190 Squadron was formed on 24 October 1917 at Rochford as a night-trainingunit. After the First World War it was disbanded in April 1919.

On the 1st of March 1943, the No 190 Squadron was activated again at Sullom Voe with Catalinas and flew Anti-U-boat missions over the Atlantic Ocean until it was disbanded again on 31 December 1943. On 5 January 1944 it was once againblown into life, now at Leicester East, as a Stirling squadron. Flying starts in early March with the training in towing gliders. From April 1944 they make supply dropsover occupied France. During D-Day the squadron sends twenty-three Stirlingswith paratroopers to the drop-zones and are back the same day towing eighteen gliders to Normandië. During the first two days of 'Operation Market Garden' inSeptember 1944 No 190 Squadron undertook 46 missions, to bring paratroopers and 6 gliders. They make also 53 supply flights to Arnhem. The anti-aircaft guns of the German defence takes a heavy toll, in three days the squadron losses are11 Stirlings with crew. In March 1945 the 190 tows 30 gliders behind there Stirlings towards the Rhine when the Allies cross this river. In April 1945 the 190Squadron brings fuel to the army when they are running dry. In May the squadron takes a army unit to Norway to disarm the German troops who are stationed there. Around this period the Stirling was replaced by the Halifax. After a periodof cargo hauling the squadron was re-numbered to No 295 Squadron on 21 January 1946.

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Wreckage flankt by, left: memorial near Venhuizen, right: memorial at thecemetery in Bovenkarspel

This page is part of 'De slag om Normandië'

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