Operation: Hannover

Date: 27th/28th September 1943 (Monday/Tuesday)

Unit: No. 428 (Ghost) Squadron RCAF, 6 Group (motto: Usque ad finem - To the very end)

Type: Halifax V

Serial: EB215

Code: NA-T

Base: RAF Middleton St George, County Durham

Location: Oosterhof, Vaassen, Netherlands

Pilot: Sgt. John Ernest Farmer, 1338093, RAFVR, Age 21 - Killed

Fl/Eng: Sgt. John Walter Satchell, 1801758, RAFVR, Age 20 - Killed

Nav: Sgt. David Albert Jov Griffin, 1497289, RAFVR - PoW No. 591, Stalag 357 (Kopernikus)

Air/Bmr: Sgt. Thomas John Jack Wilson, 1498723, RAFVR, Age 23 - Killed

W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Eric Turner Springett, 1336371, RAFVR, Age 20 - Killed

Air/Gnr (Mid Upper): Sgt. Alfred Stuart, 1121371, RAFVR, Age 23 - Killed

Air/Gnr (Rear): Sgt. William Edward Mussen, 618204, RAF, Age 23 - Killed

Reason for Loss

On the night of 27th/28th September 1943, 678 aircraft took part in the raid on Hannover: 312 Lancasters, 231 Halifaxes, 111 Stirlings and 24 Wellingtons. Five B-17s of the US Eighth Air Force flew with them.

The attack mostly missed its aim. RAF reports afterwards said the Pathfinders had worked from wrong wind forecasts, so the target markers drifted away from the city centre. RAF photographs showed most bombs landing in open country or villages north of the city. 38 Bomber Command aircraft were lost (17 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters, 10 Stirlings and 1 Wellington), 5.6 per cent of the force, along with one B-17.

It was a bad night for 428 Squadron. Besides EB215, Halifax JB968 NA-R was lost. LK915 NA-V was believed shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Hülshagen, Germany, with five killed. DK252 crash-landed with icing problems, and DK270 NA-U crashed on return while attempting to land at Parham; three crew were killed and a fourth later died of his injuries.

The Loss of EB215

EB215 took off at 19:17 and went down at about 00:17 on 28th September at Oosterhof, Vaassen, in Gelderland in the Netherlands.

Accounts differ about what brought it down. One record says it was hit by flak on the way home and exploded in the air. A Dutch account says two Messerschmitts attacked it near the Dutch border and set the port engine on fire. Pilot John Farmer dived twice to try to put out the fire, and when a third dive failed he ordered the crew out.

The aircraft came down on the Molenpad in Vaassen, on the Van Amersfoort family's farm, which burned down.

Above: Memorial to the crew (courtesy Broken Wings '40-'45 Foundation, Vaassen)

Inscription translated from Dutch: On 28-9-1943, the Halifax bomber EB 215 crashed here on its way back to England. So that we keep those who died here in respectful remembrance. They died young for our freedom!

J.E. Farmer, W.E. Mussen, J.W. Satchel, E.T. Springett, A. Stuart, T.J. Wilson

David Griffin, the only survivor, unveiled the memorial column on 11-11-06 together with Mrs Olive Burrell-Satchel.

Courtesy Broken Wings '40-'45 Foundation, Vaassen and surroundings

Burial Details

Sgt. John Ernest Farmer. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 693. Son of Ernest George Farmer and of Gertrude Mary Farmer (née Lidstone), of Balham, London. Epitaph: 'Upon The Silent Shore Of Memory Images And Precious Thoughts Cannot Die'.

Sgt. John Walter Satchell. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 690. Son of Walter (died 1951, age 57) and Grace Martha Satchell (died 1978, age 85), of Leytonstone, Essex. Epitaph: 'Modest, Manly, True, Fearless And Gay Into God's Arms He Flew, Faith Upheld'.

Sgt. Thomas John Jack Wilson. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 691. Son of Thomas and Sarah Agnes Wilson, of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Epitaph: 'Gone To Be With Christ Which Is Far Better'.

Sgt. Eric Turner Springett. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 695. Son of Turner William and Esther Alice Springett, of Rowhedge, Essex. Epitaph: 'Deep In Our Hearts His Precious Memory Lives'.

Sgt. Alfred Stuart. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 692. Son of John Henry and Mary Jane Stuart, of Rock Ferry, Birkenhead. Epitaph: 'More Than A Brother You Were My All; God Commanded, You Answered His Call'.

Sgt. William Edward Mussen. Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery, Grave 694. Born on 8th January 1920 in Dromore, Northern Ireland, he is also remembered on the Dromore War Memorial. He was probably a regular in the RAF before the war. Next of kin details have not been established - are you able to assist? Epitaph: 'He Died To Give Us Freedom'.

Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery

Epe (Vaassen) General Cemetery is the village's ordinary civilian burial ground, the algemene begraafplaats, run by the municipality of Epe. Within it, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission looks after a small group of Second World War graves.

Vaassen is a village 7 km north of Apeldoorn on the main road to Zwolle. The cemetery is on the southern edge of the village, on the east side of the main Apeldoorn road, and the war graves are near its eastern boundary. GPS: 52.28236, 5.96543.

The CWGC records 12 identified Commonwealth casualties, all from the Second World War and all RAF aircrew, in graves numbered 690 to 701. They come from two aircraft.

The Other Crew

Wellington XIII MF397, 69 Squadron, 7th/8th April 1945: a reconnaissance aircraft flying from Melsbroek in Belgium, shot down about 5 km north-east of Vaassen. German anti-aircraft fire hit it over Deventer at 21:30. Five crew died at once and the sixth died a week later in hospital. All six are buried here, in graves 696-701.

696: Sgt. William Joseph Henry Clarke, 1523230, Navigator, from Douglas, Isle of Man. His recorded birth date of 7th April 1924 means he died on his 21st birthday.

697: Sgt. Gordon Walter Harper, 1605674, Air Bomber, age 21, from Breaston, Derbyshire.

698: Sgt. Gibson Peace, 952033, Air Gunner, age 29, from Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury. He died on 13th April 1945.

699: Sgt. Michael Alan Hunt, 1587198, Pilot, age 20, from Paignton, Devon.

700: LAC Franklin Eric Tulley, 1893911, Air Gunner, age 19, from Forest Hill, London.

701: Sgt. Frank Thomas Hare, 1818605, W/Op/Air Gunner, age 20, from Breaston, Derbyshire.

So the two crews lie side by side, one lost early in the bombing war and the other just weeks before the liberation of the area.

Sources and Acknowledgements

• Broken Wings '40-'45 Foundation, Vaassen - Netherlands
• Traces Of War
• National Archives, Kew
• Aircrew Remembered Archives
• International Bomber Command Centre
• Aviation Safety Network
• Find A Grave
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

Additional Information Found

David Griffin, the sole survivor

Broken Wings record that David Griffin, the crew's Welsh navigator, reached his 100th birthday on 6th September 2020 in Bowral, Australia, surrounded by his son Marc and daughters Susanne and Jeanne. He died in hospital at Bowral on 17th February 2022, aged 101.

He wrote a memoir of his war, "One Man in His Time", for his children and grandchildren in 2019, and gave Broken Wings sole rights to publish it; they have released it chapter by chapter on their website. In it he describes 19 months as a prisoner: first in a camp in East Prussia, then in an army camp in Poland, then moved west into Germany. When the camp was marched away as the Allies crossed the Rhine, he and a friend named Wellings escaped from the column, were recaptured near Belsen, and were finally freed by the British 11th Armoured Division.

It was his wish to have a symbolic place beside his crewmates in the cemetery at Vaassen, and Broken Wings marked this with a memorial column there. He also visited Vaassen and spoke to local schools.

Griffin's account of the last flight

Griffin's memoir supports the night-fighter version of events. In summary: flak burst close to the aircraft as they crossed the Dutch coast on the way out, without damage. After bombing, on the homeward leg, two fighters attacked at the same time, one from each side, raking the fuselage; a roll call found all seven men unhurt.

Some time later Jack Wilson reported the port outer engine on fire. The flight engineer's extinguisher had no effect, and Farmer dived the aircraft twice without putting it out. As they crossed the Dutch border the crew discussed ditching in the North Sea, but the engineer feared the aircraft could explode first, and Farmer ordered them to bale out.

Griffin went out through the floor hatch, losing his flying boots and striking the trailing aerial, which cut his hands and knee. Under his parachute he saw the burning Halifax explode below him. He thought the bomb aimer might have had time to jump, but that the others would have been trapped. He landed against a fence in a field with a bull in it, injuring his ankle, buried his parachute and set off westwards.

Details for the crew

• Nicknames: Griffin's memoir calls the rear gunner "Bill" Mussen and the mid-upper gunner "Alf" Stuart.
• Northern Ireland: two of the crew came from Northern Ireland - Jack Wilson from Belfast and William Mussen from Dromore.
• Mussen's service: the CWGC lists him as Royal Air Force rather than RAFVR, which supports your note that he was probably a pre-war regular.
• Other memorials: the crew are also named on the 428 Squadron memorial stone next to the former St George's Hotel at Teesside Airport (once RAF Middleton St George), and on the International Bomber Command Centre memorial in Lincoln (Farmer on panel 162, Mussen on panel 217).

The crash site today

Broken Wings place the crash in the hamlet of Oosterhof, now the Laan van Fasna in Vaassen. The story was reconstructed by Gerrit Kamphuis and his daughter Sylvie for the book "Gevallen Helden" (October 2012), which covers every aircraft crash in the municipality of Epe during the war. An English translation was sent to David Griffin, who said its account of that morning was very accurate.

The other 428 Squadron losses

• LK915 NA-V: picked up by searchlights on the way home and shot down by Oblt. Martin Drewes of 11./NJG 1, flying a Bf 110 G-4 from Leeuwarden. Four of the crew rest in Hannover War Cemetery.
• DK270 NA-U: those killed included Sgt. Arthur James Wadd Lucas (buried Horsell, St. Mary Churchyard), Sgt. William Frank Smith, age 20 (Dursley Cemetery) and Sgt. John Duncan Mercer, age 21, of Vancouver. The pilot, Sgt. R. Wilson, survived.

Wellington MF397

• Task: the aircraft failed to return from a reconnaissance of the Apeldoorn-Amersfoort area. It crashed behind "De Bokkerij", near the Geerstraat and Bokkerijweg, where Broken Wings placed a memorial column, unveiled on 10th November 2007 by Vera Clarke and Gerrit van 't Einde.
• Sgt. Gibson Peace: son of Claude and Elizabeth Ann Peace, of Dewsbury; husband of Doris Peace, of Thornhill Lees. Find A Grave records that he died at Apeldoorn.
• Sgt. Michael Alan Hunt: son of Robert Oliver and Joan Winifred Hunt, of Paignton, Devon.
• LAC Franklin Eric Tulley: one Dutch source describes him as an air gunner under training.