In the night of 9/10 July 1941, 82 bombers take off from the many air bases in England. The force is divided into 39 Hampdens, 27 Whitleys and 16 Wellingtons. All crews make their way to Aachen. Two of them would never reach the target and crash in our country. A first machine, a Whitley of the 77 Sqdn, just reached the Belgian coast. The second victim, a Hampden from 144 Sqdn, was killed in the other corner of our country, in Limburg.
The Flakbattery 2./252 managed to bring down the Whitley Z6743 (77 Sqdn)
he unfortunate Whitley mentioned was the Z6743 that took off at 9:29 PM to bomb the Aachen post office. The four bodies are transferred to Ostend after the war. They are the pilot Sgt Peter McLean (25 y.), The two radio operators / gunners Sgt Reginald Brearley (21 y.) And Sgt Albert Eaves (24 y.) And the air gunner P / O Graham Whitting (30 y.)
The wrekage of the Z6743-KN (Picture: Rate One)
