Lancaster Monument Brunssum

This memorial commemorates Lancaster R-5701 of the 97 Squadron, which crashed on this spot on October 5, 1942. During a bombing raid on Aachen (D), the plane exploded in the air near Brunssum but was not claimed by the Luftwaffe or the ground forces. The bodies lay around and only the pilot was not damaged. He fell on a pile of wheat and slid down and sat against the pile. There he was found by air traffic controllers Hendriks and Schrijen from Brunssum. Shortly afterwards the German MP arrived and they took over the protection. The next morning, they found all the other bodies and put them together, leaving them covered for a few days. Then they were transferred to a Military Cemetery near Venlo. Some houses were damaged but no civilian casualties. On their way to Aachen, they accidentally bombed the city of Geleen 20 kilometers away, killing 80 people and injuring many. Investigations revealed that a fighter pilot Autentriet and his gunner Adam of Naghtjagd Geschwader 1 Stab 2 claimed to have shot down a Halifax bomber that night. But that night no Halifax was missing so most likely this was the Lancaster R 5701. The Halifax mentioned in 1943 is a different aircraft. That largely fell on German territory. The part of it that fell on the Hendrik Mine, the shooter John Raw was still in it. He is buried in Maastricht. The artist / maker of this monument is Marco Jurien from Maastricht. Source: traces of war