The Mosquito HJ711-VI-P was built in Hatfield in May 1943 and is assigned to 169 Sqd.
The plane took off from Little Snoring (Norfolk) on 15-03-1943 at 22H10 as part of a mission to Stuttgart involving 617 Lancaster, 230 Halifax and 16 Mosquito.
The Mosquito HJ711 is shot down by the Flak battery located in Eupen (Abt 3.-6./514) at 23H05, after a few minutes it breaks in two and crashes in Neu-Moresnet at the «Kelmiser Heide» place located 1.100 m from the German border.
Pilot F/LT William Wells FOSTER (J/8788) was taken prisoner of war. He was born on 24/10/1914 and died on 25/01/2011 at the age of 97;
Navigator F/O Jack Howard GRANTHAM (183364) died on site at the age of 34. After being temporarily buried in Aachen, he finally found his last home at the Rheinberg War Cimetery in Kamp Lintfort in North Rhine Westfalie. JH GRANTHAM was a member of the War Volunteer Reserve. He received the "Distinguished Flying Medal" on 10/02/1943 and the "Distinguished Flying Cross" on 20/08/1943 (London Gazette of 01/06 & 07/09/1943).
Map of La Calamine and the place of crash of the HJ711 (picture provided by Günter Havenith)
Picture showing wher the Mosquito HJ711 crashed (picture provided by Günter Havenith)
Flak report (Flakbericht) of 11/17/1944 (picture provided by Günter Havenith)
According to Günther Havenith, citizen of La Calamine:
"The searches for the actual crash site took some time, but according to the testimony of a witness of the crash and the son of the owner of the plot on which the plane crashed, I managed to determine it.
Interestingly, my family is in possession of a small pendant, a plexiglass cross made from one of the cockpit windows of the plane. The owner’s son tells me that a part of the Mosquito was up until a few years ago in a corner of the plot.
He does not know exactly what happened to it, but it is possible that it disappeared during the construction of the surrounding subdivision... Aerial photos from 1947 still show the crash site. The witness tells me that his father told him that the farmer down below at the time tried to hide the pilot in front of the German soldiers of the Flak batteries located +/- 350 m, which failed…"
Second live for the Mosquito HJ711: Built by de Havilland Hatfield as NF.II. Sent to 169 Squadron at RAF Little Snoring. Flown in combat and credited with a Bf 110 over Berlin. In 1960s used by RAF Air Training Corps at Chingford. Acquired by Reflectaire Museum, Blackpool in 1971. Acquired by Tony Agar in 1972. Restored using parts from PF498, VA878, NT616, and RS715. Wears 169 livery as VI-C. In 2017 moved from Yorkshire Air Museum to Lincolnshire. Sources: List_of_surviving_de_Havilland_Mosquitos/Wikipedia
