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* Report: July 15th, 2023: The Belgians Parade to the London Cenotaph *

RAF aircraft's crash sites in Province of West-Vlaanderen:
Blankenberge

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Last update: 25/06/23


Elegy to
the Heroes of Silence


* To the 9 Squadron *
* To the crew of R1758-WS *
* To the monument erected in remembrance *
* Cemetery where rest the crew *

Crash site of Wellington R1758-WS
9/06/1941

aircraft
cest raf squadron
Unit: 9 Squadron
Aircraft: Wellington
Code: R1758-WS
Base: Honington
Mission: Belgian coast
Crew officer: W/Cder ARNOLD, ROY GEORGE CLARINGBOULD
Incident: Shot down by German fighter

Location: (Prov. West-Vlanderen)

crash

Facts

During the afternoon of June 9, 1941, the Austrian Staffelkapitän Walter Schneider ran with some pilots from his 6th Staff to the Messerschmitts and took off from Maldegem. Above the North Sea, in the yellow circle of his visor, Schneider got a rather rare appearance for a fighter pilot: a twin-engined Vickers Wellington bomber. After all, 9 Squadron had deployed a few Wellingtons from base Honnington that afternoon at 3.30 pm for an armed reconnaissance near Vlissingen - it would cost them two machines. The Wellington 1a R1758 was intercepted by Schneider at 5.45 pm and crashed into the water between Blankenberge and Zeebrugge. The pilot, Wing Commander Roy Arnold (30 y.) Remained at the control stick and was thus killed - his body would wash up at Blankenberge, where he still rests.
The five remaining crew members could parachute jump and were captured by sailors from the Kriegsmarine who were on watch in Zeebrugge: Sgt JM Pinkham, F / O D. Bruce, Sgt HA Wink, Sgt RH Barratt and F / O TA Bax. This victory was to be contested by the Batterie Schüte (Marine Artillerie Abteilung 204), but it was nevertheless due to the Austrian pilot - his twelfth victory.

Sources:
Rate One
The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
Aircrew Remembered
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