Brogtrop's daughter Hanne was born in 1940 in the Dutch East Indies; father and daughter never had a chance to meet. He travelled from NEI to the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School in Jackson, USA. After getting his pilot's licence he was send to England in February 1943 with the first group of 20 Dutch novice Naval fighter pilots. From 19/04/1943 to 16/08/1943 he was posted to No. 38 AFU. On 01/02/1944 he could be transferred to an operational Squadron, No. 1847 on RNAS Eglinton.

Burial of F.C.M. Brogtrop at Creggan Church Cemetery, Ireland, 27/5/1944. Source: H. Bánki-Brogtrop

Brogtrop's grave on 22/11/1945 Source: H. Bánki-Brogtrop

Map 66. Creggan RC Church, Greysteel, Northern Ireland, initial burial site of Frans Brogtrop

Ernie Cromie, 21/3/2006:

'Brogtrop & de Jager tragedy - I'm afraid I have almost nothing to add to your knowledge of this incident, except to say that there is a reference

to it in the records of the Royal Air Force's Air Sea Rescue & Marine Craft Unit that was based at Culmore on Lough Foyle in WW2. The entry for 18th May 1944 reads "At 22.20 hours, a crash call was received. Two aircraft had collided and crashed in Lough Foyle, Proceeded with refueller and found wreckage. One body was recovered. The wreckage was in shallow water". The entry for the following day reads "Searched wreckage again for the body of the second pilot but without success".

The reference to "shallow water" would suggest that the site you have ringed on your map of Lough Foyle is possibly a reasonable approximation.

In the record book for one of the RAF's Maintenance Units based in Northern Ireland which specialised in recovering crashed or damaged aircraft there is a vague reference to two Hellcats being "salvaged by the Area Moorings Officer" during May 1944. It is possible but not certain this could be a reference to JV182 and FN376.'

It seems that the other body washed ashore later. Sgt. Brogtrop was buried in Creggan Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, whilst 2nd Lt De Jager was buried in Faughanvale St. Canice Presbytarian Churchyard, Eglinton. It is unknown why Sgt. Brogtrop was reburied in Mill Hill, London, whilst the body of 2nd Lt De Jager remained in Eglinton.

About spelling of place names in Ireland (Gresteel/Greysteel, Cregan/Creggan):

'Place-names throughout the island of Ireland can be very confusing. In a huge number of cases, they are Anglicised versions of the original Gaelic language and, not infrequently, scholars differ as to spelling, applicability and indeed the meanings of a lot of words in common use. It helps to appreciate that Ireland is not the homogeneous place that some politicians claim it is or ought to be.'

Source: Ernie Cromie, 5/6/2006

2. Crash site data

Map 67. Lough Foyle, 2 miles North of RAF Eglinton The location where F.C.M. Brogtrop and H.C. de Jager ditched after their Hellcats collided during forming up, 18/5/1944.