Airplane Crash

At dark, 17.55 local time a formation of nine aircraft took off. One of the planes was the Hampden-bomber [AE438].

During the night of November 9th 1941, executing their mission above our coastal region, that aircraft was cached in the beam of a searchlight. A German FLAK-battery (Fliegzeug Abwehr Kanone.) immediately engaged the aircraft with heavy shell fire.

The German artillery: Flak 36

One of the wings and a part of the tail of the aircraft received a direct hit. Those pieces fell on the field owned by farmer Vandamme, which was located South of the Aernoudstraat at Roksem. During the fatal seconds that followed witnesses reported that the bomber lost completely control, took a dive producing enormously noise, and finally crashed a couple of hundred meters further away at 22.00 hours. The remains of the plane were situated nearby the stables and house of Valère Vandekerckhove and Irma Vanthuyne, located 16 Zeeweg at Roksem.

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