AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
25 Squadron Crest
09.02.1945 No. 25 Squadron Mosquito NF.30 MT489 XK-Z Fl/Lt. Corrie

Operation: Training

Date: 09th February 1945

Unit: No. 25 Squadron

Type: Mosquito NF.30

Serial: MT489

Code: ZK-X

Base: RAF Castle Camps, Suffolk

Location: Bendish Hall, Essex

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Michael Corrie DFM 116053 RAFVR Age 27. Killed

Nav: Sgt. Adolf Lucian Leander van Melckebeke 1814833 RAFVR Age 23. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Shortly after take off the Mosquito’s undercarriage hit trees with the aircraft coming down. Both crew members were killed during the impact.

Later, during the court of enquiry they decided that “Pilot Error” was the cause - a term so often used during the war years!

Sgt. van Melckebeke was a great friend of Sgt. Jacques Bonnewit who sadly was also killed a few weeks later. Pilot of Mosquito X.VII HK304 on the 24th February 1945.

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. Michael Corrie DFM. Saffron Walden Cemetery. Compt. 39. Grave 34. Son of Arthur Edgar and Rose Edith Barton Corrie; husband of Johnnie Corrie, of Paddington, London, England.

Sgt. Adolf Lucian Leander Van Melckebeke. Brussels Town Cemetery. Belgian Airmen's Field Of Honour. Born on the 12th April 1922 at Deuil, France. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Aimée Claus.

Researched with information and photographs supplied by Raymond Binamé for Aircrew Remembered March 2017. Page dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to sources indicated below:

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

 Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2023 Last Modified: 06 April 2021, 09:54

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor