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THE LAST FLIGHT
OF LANCASTER BIII DV189 BQ-T2

by Jim Donnan

(Submitted by Jim's son-in-law, David Kirk with the full permission of his widow Margaret.)

It was New Year's Day 1944. Following two days of rest, we were back on operations. Our crew was on the Order of Battle and for this particular trip we were to fly in Lancaster DV189 T2.

We had been engaged in routine pre-operational checks and testing of our equipment prior to the main briefing, which commenced in a tense atmosphere. When the curtain was drawn aside exposing the operational map, the target was Berlin for the third consecutive time, only this time our route to the Big City was almost direct from the Dutch coast across an area which was becoming increasingly dangerous because of night fighter activity.

Deteriorating weather conditions delayed our take-off for several hours. It was therefore difficult to relax during this period.

Our crew:-

F.O. J G Bryson Pilot
Sgt. T F M Roxby Navigator
Sgt. D F Fadden Flight Engineer
F. Sgt. P H Evans Bomb Aimer
Sgt. J J Sawkins Mid Upper Gunner
Sgt. W C Gundry Rear Gunner
Sgt. J E Donnan Wireless Operator

We joined 550 Squadron on its formation at Waltham, Grimsby on the 25 November 1943, having transferred from 12 Squadron at Wickenby, where we had flown on operations from the 3rd September until the 24th November. Our last three operations there had also taken us to Berlin.

As New Year's Day was drawing to a close, we were preparing for take-off and at fourteen minutes past midnight we were airborne and on our way at last. The sky was dark and overcast as we flew through layers of broken cloud, climbing to our operational height heading east over the North Sea.

As we approached the Dutch coast, we could see that the anti-aircraft defences were very active and we became alert to the dangers ahead. Flying over Germany occasional bursts of flak and flashes lit up the thick, unbroken cloud along the route. While searching the night fighter waveband, I was aware of considerable activity by the German Control; we found it necessary to keep a sharp lookout even though our trip had been uneventful so far.

Our navigator called for a slight change in course for the final leg to Berlin as we reached a position between Hannover and Bremen.

It was almost immediately afterwards that a series of thuds vibrated through the floor and the aircraft seemed to bank away to starboard. I leapt up from my seat to the astrodome where I could see the starboard engines were on fire. As I switched over from radio to intercom, I saw that a fire had started under the navigator's table on the floor just behind the pilot. It was soon burning fiercely.

The pilot gave the order to abandon the aircraft. I clipped on my parachute and as I moved forward, it was found that the front escape hatch would not open. The engineer joined the bomb aimer in trying to release it. As I stood behind the navigator waiting to exit, the rear gunner said that he was having trouble with the rear turret. I then signalled that I would go to the rear exit. The navigator was standing beside the pilot ready to exit as I scrambled over the main spar and along the fuselage to the rear door, losing my shoes on the way.

When I got there, the mid upper gunner was ready to leave and the rear gunner was out of his turret and preparing to come forward. I then jettisoned the rear door as the flames from the starboard wing streamed past, licking the tail plane. Grasping the release handle on my parachute, I was preparing to jump, but I must have lost consciousness as I have no recollection of what happened next, or how I left the plane.

When I regained consciousness, my parachute was already open and I was floating in pitch darkness, very cold, and my feet were freezing. I seemed to be a long time coming down but as I descended through the clouds, dark shadows appeared and I landed on soft ground in an open space. Gathering up my parachute, I dashed over to a clump of trees, where I sat on the ground shivering and wondering how I could avoid capture. I removed all the identification from my battledress, put padding from my Mae West inside my socks and after disposing of my unwanted equipment, I set off walking to get away from the area where I had landed.

The ground was very soft and wet and there was no sound of any activity in the area. It was still dark and I appeared to be going around in circles. Snow had been falling for a while and I was very wet and cold. I then stumbled across a tool shed where I was able to shelter and found a pair of wooden clogs.

When daylight came, I could see that the shed was at the side of a track which ran through a peat cutting area with blocks of peat stacked along the side.

I ventured out, keeping to the countryside and away from the roads. I was very thirsty and decided to look for a more populated area where I could get help. I made my way along a narrow country road until I could see what looked like farm buildings in the distance. I made my way towards the buildings and although the area appeared to be inhabited, there was no one about. I rested in a cowshed until evening. I really knew that I could not go on without help, my feet and legs were swollen and the clogs were useless.

As there did not appear to be anyone about, I decided to go out in search of food and drink. I had not gone far when I was challenged by a man who came out and said something that I did not understand. I indicated that I wanted something to drink. I was taken into a kitchen and given food and drink. Various people came and asked me questions that I could not understand, so I did not try to answer.

After some time there, I was taken to a coffee house and given a glass of beer whilst further discussion took place between the people there. Soon afterwards a lady came in and spoke to me in English. I couldn't take in what she was saying but I replied, "Oh, you speak English!" She then told me that she thought that I was a British airman and asked me why I had not got any shoes on. She said that someone would come to see me. It was not long after that when two men in uniform arrived and I was taken into custody.

The following day, I was interviewed by a Luftwaffe officer at the nearby Flugplatz. He told me who I was and asked me where I had been since the crash. He asked me if I would like to know about my comrades, saying that they had all been accounted for but two had been killed in the crash.

It was then that I found that the engineer and bomb aimer were with me at the same Flugplatz. They were able to assist me when we were taken under armed guard by train to Dulag Luft at Frankfurt where we met up with our two air gunners. After spending several days there, we were transported by rail in cattle trucks to Stalag IVb at Muhlberg/Elbe where we remained until the end of the war.

In May 1990 I met Dick Breedijk who was very interested in researching aircraft crash sites between 1940 and 1945 in Holland. Dick very kindly volunteered to help locate where my aircraft had crashed in Germany and after very thorough and painstaking research he established that the aircraft had crashed between the villages of Schweringen and Holtrop near Bremen. He had communicated with many local historians and people in the area and as a result of his investigations, an article was published in the local German newspaper "Die Harke", of which the following are translated extracts:

"Friedrich Deike: ' The Bomber Crash in January 1944 Almost Became a Catastrophe for Schweringen'

"In the middle forties, hundreds of 4-engined Lancaster bombers flew over the territory of Nienburg to transport their deadly cargo towards Berlin and other cities. Not just a few were attacked by German fighters and shot down. It happened to the seven crew members of a Lancaster that started out a few minutes after the end of New Year's Day 1944 from Waltham, Grimsby and belonged to 550 Squadron. Two and a half hours' later it was shot down near Nienburg by a night fighter. Two crew members were killed. Five bailed out by parachute. . . . . . ."

"Friedrich Deike and Heinrich Eickhoff were in 1944 only 15 and 16 years old and lived in Holtrup. They haven't forgotten that New Year's evening of 1944. There was an air raid alarm and Eickhoff had just returned home from a party in Sebbenhausen. It was a soggy, cold night when the sirens started to shriek."

“‘Suddenly there was a loud explosion like I have never heard,' he says.’ Outside it was as clear as day and there was fire everywhere. In the cellar the preserves fell from the shelves. Immediately the word spread around that a bomber had crashed and exploded and some airmen had bailed out by parachute' . . . ."

"Friedrich Deike, who was 15 years old at the time, says that when his father looked out, he suddenly stared at a sea of fire. The deafening explosion blew open doors, plaster fell from the walls, windows shattered and roofs were ripped off . . . ."

"The bomber was blown into thousands of pieces. The four motors were found hundreds of metres away in a field near Schweringen. The crash place was turned into a deep crater, Deike remembers . . ."

"Heinrich Bockman, who was barely 14 years old at the time, is now the Burgermeister of Holtrup and Schweringen where he was born. He states: 'I can vividly remember the day the British bomber crashed. It crashed with its complete bomb load, causing a huge crater, with wreckage parts scattered over a wide area. As a curious 14 year old boy, I arrived at the crater before the area was sealed off. A local military unit came and searched the area for bodies, which were put in a coffin. Three men were taken prisoner in the area. We didn't know that there were seven crew.'

* * * *

Thanks to Dick’s fantastic work I was able to return to the area on the 2 January 1994 the fiftieth anniversary of our crash.

I flew with my son-in-law David Kirk, from Manchester to Amsterdam, and then travelled by car driven by Dick Breedijk. We were also accompanied by Herman Bijlard, a fellow researcher and friend of Dick. (Herman had translated for Dick the many letters to and from Germany in the course of his research.) Our purpose was to visit the graves of my two comrades in Hannover War Cemetery, and also the crash area where they had died.

On Monday the 3rd we were met in Holtrup by the Burgermeister, Heinrich Bockman, Friedrich Deike and Wilheim Meier. We then proceeded to the crash site at Schweringsfeld in Holtrup, where a reporter, Britta Mahrholz from the newspaper "Die Harke", greeted us and took a keen interest in the event that happened fifty years ago.

The crash of the Lancaster and the explosion of the bomb load could have been a major disaster for Holtrup or Schweringen, as it took place between them.

When we left the site of the crash, we were taken to the Coffee House in Holtrup where we were introduced to Annie Huppe, who is now 82. She was the lady who came to the coffee house when I was taken there after being captured because she could speak English. She was very pleased to find that I was now wearing shoes!

At an informal gathering held there, Herr Bockman made a short speech welcoming me to Holtrup and comparing my visit on this occasion with the ill-fated flight in which I took part fifty years before. He expressed his gratitude for my announcing my current visit unlike the one I made fifty years previously. He also made reference to the German saying, that if a person survived a disaster, as I had done, then they were reborn. We should, therefore, be celebrating my fiftieth birthday, to which we all drank. (copiously, I have to say).

Everybody was very helpful and friendly and we had a most enjoyable time.

During the next day, we were shown around the local area where the crew had come down by parachute and the locations where some had been captured. We also travelled around the very boggy area into which I had descended but I was unable to identify the place where I had buried my parachute.

We then visited the Flugplatz where three of us were taken after we had been captured, and from there to the railway station from which we were escorted by train to Dulag Luft. The whole of the area was very much as I had remembered it, although I did not see much of it in daylight at that time. It was, however, very wet and some areas were flooded due to the overflowing of the River Weser from recent heavy rain.

Before leaving the area, we visited the churchyards at Hassel and Hoya where our pilot and navigator were first buried before being transferred to the Hannover War Cemetery.

The following day, we set out for Hannover after making a final visit to the place of the crash and a few calls on local people whom we had met on our visit. On our way, we visited Wilhelm Meier at Eystrup, who showed us the crash site of another Lancaster that came down the same night as ours, killing six of the crew.

We arrived at Hannover War Cemetery next morning and visited the graves of F O Bryson and Sgt Roxby, where I laid a wreath in their memory on behalf of the surviving crew members and 550 Squadron.

We also located the graves of the crew members of three Lancasters that came from 61 Squadron, 106 Squadron and 467 Squadron. Twenty-one of their crew members also died that night.

The following is an extract from my son-in-law's diary, "I was very moved by the number of graves of such young men and paid particular attention to the memory of those who had also fallen fifty years ago. The inscription on one young man's grave seemed to embrace the whole sorrowful but pleasantly kept site. ‘In memory of a loving son who gave his life so that England may remain free. Your duty now done you can rest in peace. Love Mum and Dad.' This and other equally moving epitaphs reminded me of how lucky and grateful I was."

* * * *

For all of us, this was a very emotional experience. The visit to the area had enabled us to clarify much of what had happened when our aircraft was attacked by a night fighter.

The starboard wing and the incendiary bombs at the front of the bomb bay had been set on fire by a "Schrage-Musik" attack, which may also have damaged the front escape hatch. The initial action taken by the pilot did not extinguish the fires and when the order was given to bale out, he still had control of the burning aircraft.

Normally I would have followed the navigator out through the front emergency exit, so had I not gone to the rear, I would not have survived. The bomb aimer and flight engineer were in the nose section when the aircraft suddenly dived, trapping them so that they could not move; they were released when an explosion blew off the front of the nose section, enabling them to escape by parachute just before the crash. Wreckage from the nose section was found about 2 km from the crash site and near the spot where the flight engineer came down. The bomb aimer landed close to the crash site. It is possible that a further attack was made by the fighter, causing the sudden loss of control.

I would like to thank the many people in Germany who gave us so much help with our research and for such a friendly welcome on our visit to the area, also to David and Herman for their support and assistance, and a very special thanks to Dick for the tremendous amount of time and work he put in, researching the circumstances of the crash. I asked Dick if he would like to add anything to this record of events and I received the following comment:

“I am very happy to get this opportunity to thank Jim Donnan and all the other ex- RAF members, especially those of Bomber Command, for their enormous input and bravery during World War 2.

"I lived then, in that part of Holland, that was liberated only after the 'unconditional surrender' by the German occupiers. One of the reasons for this was that the bombings went on up until the very last moment. I also want to thank everyone who, in one way or another, helped in the dropping of food. I had been born in the year of 1939 and I can remember in those early years of my life, the feeling of hunger and the taste of sugar beet and tulip bulbs. . . ."

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