In the hamlet of Bodem near Genk (Kempen), the Wellington Ic T2992 comes to an end, in which the five members of the crew are killed. They were the pilots P / O John McAnally (23 y.) And F / O Reginald Jenkyns (25 y.), The radio operators / gunners Sgt Arthur Evans (21 y.) And Sgt Edward King (23 y.) And the Australian P / O Donald Armstrong (28 y.). They are buried in As. The crew was shot down with the help of the searchlight division Flakscheinwerfer Regiment 1.
Before the crash, the crew dropped the bomb load on the Looiheide, without causing any casualties.
A sixth crew member survived the crash: W / O George F. Roughton. After his arrest he was taken to Bad Sulza near Muhlhausen, in the spring of 1942 he was transferred to the Sagan camp. When looking at the photos taken of the crash site, it is striking how much interest there was in the tail turret. It looks almost intact - it may have been manned by Roughton, and survived the blow.
Luc Meyvis situates the location as follows:
" on the Bilzerweg, which runs from As to Wiemesmeer. During the war this was national road 30, later the N 730.
This road is now intersected by the N 75 (Europalaan) and from this intersection towards Wiemesmeer, this road is no longer accessible to motorized traffic because from here this road is now part of the Limburg bicycle network and this between cycle junction 565 and 535.
Just before the bridge over the E 314, formerly the E 39, this plane crashed on the then still narrow road, broke in two and part of the plane was on the left and right of the road.
Until the end of the eighties, when entering this bridge (towards Wiemesmeer), in the middle of the driveway on the left in the woods, a triangle could still be seen where most of this aircraft had burned out. This place is almost the farthest corner of Genk and then belonged to the hamlet of Bodem. "
(Picture: Aircrew Remembered)
Wreckage of T2992 laying near Genk
