Operation: Düsseldorf, Germany
Date: 4/5th December 1940 (Wednesday/Thursday)
Unit: No. 99 Squadron
Type: Wellington Mk.IC
Serial: T2501
Code: LN-F
Base: RAF Newmarket, Suffolk
Location: Luftwaffe airfield (KG 53) located at Vitry-en-Artois, France
Pilot: F/O. Frank Harvey Vivian 70699 RAF PoW No. 638 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria (1)
2nd Pilot: P/O. Hardie Grosvenor de Forest 42486 RAF PoW No: 367 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria
Sgt. R.E. Bush 749722 RAFVR PoW No: 356 Camp: Stalag Luft Heydekrug
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. John Gage 745360 RAFVR PoW No. 430 Camp: Stalag Kopernikus (2)
Air/Gnr: Sgt. C.H.C. Wright 905898 RAFVR PoW No: 394 Camp: Stalag Luft Heydekrug
Air/Gnr: P/O. J.R. Hoppe 70239 RAF PoW No: 371 Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria
REASON FOR LOSS:
Wellington Mk. IC coded LN-F (T2501) flown by F/O. Frank Vivian had been damaged by light anti-aircraft fire and the crew became dis-orientated. They noticed landing lights of an airfield and ended up going in to land, thinking that they were over England.
No one suspected it was a British bomber and since it landed everyone assumed the aircraft was a German.
It wasn't until a guard saw the crew climbing back into the Wellington that the base was alerted and alarm sounded. F/O. Vivian didn't have time to take off or destroy the aircraft - the crew were taken prisoner for the remainder of the war.
Above and below: Wellington T2501 in Luftwaffe markings
Right: Margaret Croft ‘Peggy’ Scriven
(2) Sgt. John Gage was killed during the closing days of the war after RAF Typhoons mistakingly strafed a PoW column near the village of Gresse.
Burial details:
None - all crew survived. However at a later date:
(2) W/O. John Gage. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery. Grave 6B.11. Son of of Clement and Annie Gage, of Harnham, Salisbury, England.
Above: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery.
Researched by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered - May 2015. Bill Chorley’s BC. Losses 1936-1940 2nd edition for additional information, with Wikipedia for photo and information on Margaret Scriven. Further sources as quoted below. With thanks to Pat Bouma for advising us of the incorrect aircraft squadron markings - March 2018.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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Last Modified: 29 March 2018, 18:17