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40-609: Lancaster Memorial may refer to: Lancaster Memorial (Netherlands) Lancaster Memorial (Luxembourg) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Lancaster Memorial . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lancaster_Memorial&oldid=932957616 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

80-525: A Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar . This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942. It took Baake nearly seven months to make a claim, and by the time he did so, he had been promoted to Leutnant (Second Lieutenant). At

120-533: A prisoner of war (POW)). At 01:10 on 25 June 1943, Baake shot down another Wellington at Kerkdriel for his ninth victory. Baake achieved his tenth victory at 01:30 on 14 July, northwest of Utrecht. It was last during the RAF's Ruhr offensive. This aircraft was probably Halifax HR720 , WP-B, of No. 158 Squadron RAF crewed by: G. R. J. Duthie Royal New Zealand Air Force (pilot, killed); J. N. Hempstead (flight engineer, evaded capture); F.D. Granger (navigator, became

160-572: A Halifax northeast of the town at 01:37. The successes put his total at five for which qualified him for night fighter ace. In the early hours of 23 June, Baake claimed three victories. These included two Lancasters, at 00:55 and 1:30, near south-east Utrecht and west of Nijmegen respectively. Sergeant E. A Williams of 101 Sqn was the sole survivor from one of these Lancasters ( LM325 ; "SR-J"). (Sgt R. A. Waterhouse, Sgt J. Osborne, Pilot Officer (P/O) T. Tomkins, Sgt E. Smith, Sgt V Sugden and Sgt R. Cooper were killed.) Baake's third victim that night

200-549: A Halifax on 17 June 1944 and two Lancasters on 22 June, west of Aachen for his 33rd, 34th and 35th air victories. On 27 July, Baake received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross ( Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes ). On 2 October 1944, Aders was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of NJG 1, succeeding Major Paul Förster in this capacity. The RAF Bomber Command targeted Bochum on 9 October. Following

240-732: A Halifax; one on 1 September at 0:59 near Wustermark , two on 6 September at 00:15 and scoring the last victory for the Luftwaffe that night at 02:00 over Kaiserslautern . At 22:40 north of Quakenbrück on 27 September, Baake achieved his 19th victory. On 3 November 1943 two Lancasters were shot down near Helmond and Essen at 19:13 and 19:36. One of the Lancasters may have been Lancaster I W4822 , of No. 57 Squadron RAF , captained by First Lieutenant Donald R. West, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). West died with four other crew members; three were captured. On 18 November Bomber Command began

280-422: A Lancaster north of Tilburg at 00:26, and a Halifax west of Gorinchem at 02:18. Baake's 28th victory was attained on 4 May at 00:20 west of Venlo . He shot down Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress M-Mother of No. 78 Squadron RAF that had been by ground fire in the target area but was intercepted and finished off by Baake. It was piloted by Flight Lieutenant J. G Smith; Smith and one crew member evaded capture but

320-403: A POW); T. E. F. Carr (bomb-aimer, POW); G. H. King (wireless operator, POW); J. R. Grey Royal Australian Air Force (gunner, POW); and T. Pinkney (gunner, POW). At 02:18 on 24 August, Baake claimed a Lancaster southeast of Wittenburg as Bomber Command attacked Berlin and he claimed two Short Stirling bombers on 28 August, west of Augsburg at 02:10 and northwest of Nuremberg at 02:15. One

360-516: A residence area of Nijmegen. He was offered help by the owner of the house and was given medical attention by a doctor for cuts and burn wounds. But soon the Germans found out that Williams had landed in the area, so he was escorted to the local police station and arrested. He was sent as a prisoner of war to Stalag Luft VI near the Polish-Lithuanian border. Williams would remain imprisoned until

400-524: A vacation in Mallorca, he met an old inhabitant from Heesch. That person's family doctor happened to be the doctor that treated Williams for his wounds after his jump. They became close friends, and in 1983 Williams revisited Nijmegen and Beuningen after all. He met, amongst other people, the doctor and owner of the house where he landed at that time. Ted Williams died in 2004. The wreckage was later recovered and shredded. Only one propeller has been saved because

440-461: Is consisting of a bluestone base with an embedded square tablet. On this tablet there is an image made by artist Hein van Houten that is inspired by the eyewitness account of Ab Bruisten. It shows an impression of the crashed airplane and the sole crew member that lands with his parachute. The tablet lists the crew's names and their pictures. The pedestal is the center of a circle on the ground made from square cobblestones and filled with gravel. Within

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480-511: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lancaster Memorial (Netherlands) The Lancaster was part of a formation of 557 planes that were heading to the Ruhrgebied for a large-scale attack on the war industry around the German city of Mülheim . Two-thirds of Mülheim was estimated to be destroyed in this attack. The plane took off during

520-564: The Berlin Campaign . On 20 December Baake shot down two Lancasters. The aircraft were reported shot down northwest of Liège , Belgium and Eindhoven , at 19:12 and 21:00 respectively—the last success being the last claim submitted by a night fighter pilot on that operation. On 16 January 1944, Baake was awarded the German Cross in Gold ( Deutsches Kreuz in Gold ). On 22 January 1944, Baake

560-599: The International Four Days Marches Nijmegen pass through Beuningen. On this day there is a ceremony by soldiers from the British Military who take part in the Marches. In 2014 the memorial has been adopted by the local Scouting branch. They maintain the memorial and keep the location tidy during the year, and they assist with the organisation of the ceremonies. Every year the ceremonies and also

600-481: The 4 May remembrance at the church are visited by more and more people. That is why in 2016 the Scouts and civilians took the initiative in founding a real memorial, together with the municipality. It was unveiled on 23 June 2016 by Ab Bruisten, eyewitness of the crash at the age of 11, and Tim Barlow, grandnephew of flight engineer Jack Osborne. The memorial has been designed by the artist Hein van Houten. The memorial

640-552: The German Ardennes Offensive . Baake's last claims came on the evening of 5 January 1945, when he downed a trio of Halifax bombers—two near Emden and another near Hannover . Werner Baake did not claim another bomber in the last four months of the war. On the night of 18/19 March 1945, Baake narrowly avoided being killed when he was shot down in a He 219 by a Mosquito night fighter flown by night fighter ace Walter Gibb , commander of No. 239 Squadron RAF . After

680-569: The German Luftwaffe and was stationed on Gilze-Rijen Air Base . That night he downed two more bombers. During the war Baake flew 195 nightly missions in which he shot down 41 planes. For his actions he was decorated several times by the Nazis. On 2 October 1944 he was promoted to commander of I./NJG 1. After the war he became a civil pilot at the Lufthansa . Eventually he suffered the same fate as

720-702: The Heligoland Bight , bombing missions by the Royal Air Force (RAF) shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line . It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector, named

760-510: The Scouting the circle with a dot in the centre "ʘ" is the symbol for 'End of Trail', but also for 'Death'. The tablet reads: They gave their today for our tomorrow 23 JUNI 1943 51°50′47″N 5°45′14″E  /  51.846278°N 5.753972°E  / 51.846278; 5.753972 Werner Baake Werner Baake (1 November 1918 in Nordhausen , Germany – 15 July 1964)

800-459: The accident. In 1946 a black cross was erected close to the point of impact. During the first years after the war, this was the place where on 4 May the local Remembrance of the Dead was held. People used to walk in a silent march from the town hall to the place of the crash. On 17 September 1950 a memorial for the allied pilots was unveiled in the park next to the town hall. Ted Williams was present at

840-548: The ceremony as well as ten surviving family of the victims. The propeller of the plane has been processed in the monument. Since then the 4 May remembrance is taking place at this memorial. Due to an extension of the town hall, the memorial was moved to the park next to the St. Cornelius Church in Beuningen in 1984. In due course of time the crash site came a bit forgotten. Until in 2013 the local liberation committee took initiative to mark

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880-410: The crash. Ted Williams, the bomb aimer of the plane, survived because he lay horizontally in the nose of the plane, close to the escape hatch. He was able to leave the plane in time and jumped with his parachute. Williams fainted while jumping, and due to the strong wind from the west, he drifted East towards Nijmegen. When he became conscious again, he landed in a garden in the village of Heesch, today

920-484: The crew members of all the planes that he shot down: Baake died on 15 June 1964 when he crashed in an aircraft accident with a Boeing 720 . During a test flight, the crew made a successful barrel-roll , although this was not allowed by the Lufthansa for this kind of airplane. On a second attempt the airplane broke down due to overloading. It crashed near the village of Ansbach . All three crew members including Baake died in

960-588: The end of the war. Beavan Tomkins also escaped from the plane, but he did not survive the jump. He was found dead in Heesch and was later united with his deceased comrades. The six victims are buried in Uden War Cemetery. Williams suffered all his life from having been a POW. He could not understand why just he survived. In 1950, he visited Beuningen for a commemorative ceremony. After that he intended to never return. By an extraordinary coincidence, 31 years later on

1000-504: The fields around the village, preventing the loss of civilian lives. At 1:45 am the plane crashed aside the De Steeg , the road from Beuningen to the neighboring village of Wijchen , 3 km south of the village center. Many people witnessed the incident. The burning wreckage was soon closed off by German soldiers. A Dutch constable also arrived. In his report, the wrote that he saw five crew members and concluded that none of them had survived

1040-520: The height of the Battle of the Ruhr , a concerted bomber offensive conducted by RAF Bomber Command , Baake achieved his first success. In the early hours of 2 June 1943, north of Neeroeteren , he claimed a Vickers Wellington bomber shot down at 01:10. Baake remained airborne for nearly two hours before engaging and claiming a Handley-Page Halifax shot down northwest of Gorinchem at 02:43. Baake's third victory

1080-521: The highest. Baake was born on 1 November 1918 in Nordhausen , at the time in Thuringia of the German Empire . Following flight training, Baake was posted to I. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1), based at Gilze-Rijen , Netherlands on 21 November 1942. The unit was involved in so-called Reichsverteidigung (" Defence of the Reich ") operations. Following the 1939 aerial Battle of

1120-413: The intercept mission, Baake was forced to make a belly landing in his Heinkel He 219  A-0 ( Werknummer 190233) because the landing gear failed to lower, damaging the aircraft. On 4 and 6 November, Baake filed single claims for a Lancaster destroyed. On 24 December Baake claimed another Lancaster over western Germany as Bomber Command targeted rail junctions to disrupt German Army supplies during

1160-555: The night of 22 June 1943 from the RAF Ludford Magna airbase in Lincolnshire . Its crew consisted of seven airmen: At 1:38 am on 23 June the plane was intercepted above the village of Beuningen , near the city of Nijmegen , Netherlands by a Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighter . The Lancaster was hit and caught fire immediately. Heavily burning, it circled a few minutes around Beuningen. The crew managed to drop their bomb load in

1200-421: The others, including American expatriate and former USAAF officer, Sergeant W. Heubner, were captured. On 6/7 May Baake shot down another B-17 west of Venlo at 00:09, having claimed a de Havilland Mosquito at 23:25—his first and only victory against that type. The two claims made his personal total 30. Only Baake claimed a Mosquito on 6/7 May. Bomber Command records show that one belonging to No. 109 Squadron RAF

1240-414: The part fell off just before the plane hit the ground. It was overlooked by the German soldiers because it was lying in a ditch. The landowner hid the part in a shed and turned it over the municipality after the war. The German pilot who shot down Lancaster LM325 was Oberleutnant Werner Baake . He was a member of I. Gruppe (1st group) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing) of

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1280-403: The site with a small sign. It was unveiled in the middle of the night on 1:45 hours, exactly 70 years after the incident. The sign started to serve as a small memorial where annually two remembrances take place. The first is on 4 May, preceding the national and local Remembrance of the Dead . At 18:30 hours there is a ceremony where the crew is honored. Every year on the fourth Wednesday of July,

1320-466: The war, Baake worked as a pilot for the West German airline Lufthansa . He was killed on 15 July 1964, when his Boeing 720 registration D-ABOP crashed near Ansbach during a training flight after he performed an unauthorised aerobatic manoeuvre. Following a successful barrel roll , the crew attempted a second. During this the aircraft broke apart due to structural overloading and all three members of

1360-399: Was Stirling III EE942 QS-R from No. 620 Squadron RAF flown by Flight Lieutenant John Francis Nichols. The aircraft came down at Halbersdorf, Mainz . None of the crew survived. On the night of 31 August another two Halifax bombers were claimed at 23:25 and 23:30 northeast of Lemgo and Neu-Rebstock to bring his tally to 15. In September 1943 he claimed four bombers: three Lancasters and

1400-603: Was a night fighter pilot fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross who served in the Nazi German Luftwaffe during World War II . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Baake claimed 41 nocturnal aerial victories in 195 combat missions. He was the 36th most successful night fighter ace of World War II, and of aerial warfare. Baake's total surpassed that of all Allied night fighter pilots; Branse Burbridge being

1440-645: Was a Halifax Mk V ( DK224 ; MP-Q) of 76 Squadron, north-west of Utrecht at 01:58. The crew bailed out and there was one fatality among them, Sgt R. Huke (flight engineer). The station commander of RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor , Group Captain Douglas Wilson Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), who was acting as second pilot of the Halifax, was apprehended by the Gestapo in Paris several weeks later and became

1480-455: Was achieved at 00:59 hours on 17 June near "Vechel" (possibly Veghel ). This time the enemy bomber was identified as an Avro Lancaster . The machine, ED629 , "PH-K", was from No. 12 Squadron RAF . All of the crew – Sergeants Arthur Charles Aylard, J. Scott, T. Alexander, M. R. Williams, H. J. P. Lackey, J. W. N. Westlake and R. Swain – were killed. On 22 June Baake claimed a Wellington southwest of Bergeyk at 01:30 and then accounted for

1520-634: Was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 2. Staffel of NJG 1. He downed his third and last victim during the Berlin campaign on 27 January. He claimed a Lancaster shot down at 22:50 southwest of Aachen . In the engagement, Baake's Messerschmitt Bf 110  G-4 ( Werknummer 740062—factory number) collided with the debris of Lancaster DS710 of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 408 (Goose) Squadron . While Baake parachuted to safety, his radio operator Unteroffizier Heinz Waldbauer

1560-406: Was killed. Baake claimed his 25th victory as Bomber Command attacked Aachen on the night of 11/12 April 1944. He claimed a Lancaster west of Haarlem at 23:37. Nine claims were made over Germany that night plus two claims made over England. Bomber Command lost nine. On the night of 24/25 April Munich and Karlsruhe were targeted. Baake achieved two interceptions resulting in the destruction of

1600-578: Was lost participating in a raid on Leverkusen . On 12 and 23 May 1944, at 0:42 and 1:14 respectively, Baake shot down a Lancaster; to take his total to 32. The former victory was over Lancaster JB733 of No. 103 Squadron RAF , which crashed at Hallaar , northeast of Antwerp after Baake fatally damaged it over Huckhofen . Pilot Officer R. Whitley; Sergeant K. L. Ramage; Warrant Officer J. A. Carter Royal Canadian Air Force ; Flight Sergeant R. B. Webb; Sergeant P. N. Crutchfield; Sergeant J. W. Smith; and Sergeant K. M. Martin were all killed. Baake claimed

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