Library Reference Number: 246
Bomber Command Remembered
A Dutch researcher currently working for a Netherlands Foundation whose objective is to present documents and educational material to schools thus enabling factual eye-witness accounts being kept alive for future generations, has reviewed stories in our website library. In giving a very positive and appreciative approval of members’ accounts in our library, she expresses her feelings on the subject in a very clear and unequivocal manner. “My generation (mid 40 years) is the last generation who heard about what happened from the people who lived then. Our children don’t have this opportunity. We want to keep the stories alive. We think that if you hear a story told by someone who was a witness and when you recognise where it happened, you will remember better than when you read it in a history book.” – Marjo Post, Researcher, Monumenten Spreken, Netherlands.
In line with the above researcher’s views, Gilbert Gray agreed to provide an eye-witness account for children describing circumstances and events in which he personally took part in their home area seventy years ago. In the following account, Gilbert describes how this 2014 commemoration service evolved from children’s efforts.
On April 20, 2013, Herman Bijlard, an Aircraft / Researcher/ Historian based in Uithoorn in the Netherlands sent me a strange e-mail containing a photograph of a cylindrical electrical motor and a request. 'Could you please identify the motor and say what its function would be, and where it would be situated on the Lancaster LM 570 of 106 Squadron (pilot F/O Bellingham) which crashed near here in the early hours of June 22nd, 1944. You were on that raid. The local school is doing a project on it.'
That request carried me back 70 years to the night of June 21st, 1944. I was then a flight engineer with 106 Squadron, 5 Group, Bomber Command based at Metheringham, near Lincoln. Bomber Command had been tasked to attack the synthetic oil works of Scholven Buer at Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr industrial area of West Germany. Over 250 Lancasters were to take part - 124 from 5 Group of which 20 were from our 106 Squadron.
On return to base we discovered that two of our Squadron aircraft were missing, captained by by P/O Brodie and F/O Bellingham respectively. Post-war research by Dutch aviatiion enthusiasts reveals that both aircraft were shot down by fighters and crashed on the fringes of the Ijsselmeer. Bellingham's Lancaster crashed and exploded near the villages of Heerewaarden and Rossum.
The crash site has been examined and excavations made during the intervening years - hence the electric motor!
A young local resident, Gijs Krist, became interested in the site and the events leading up to its creation and the local school also became involved. The school project grew creating increasing local interest and eventually it was decided to hold a commemoration of the eight airmen who died there. Efforts were made to trace relatives of the crew but none could be found. However, Herman, who had developed a close relationship with the post-war Associations of 106 and 617 Squadrons, knew from his records that I had taken part in the Gelsenkirchen operation and sought my assistance. He asked me to prepare an address in which I could describe the circumstances of that night in 1944 and convey appropriate comments to the congregation and which Herman would translate and deliver at the ceremony.
The following is the text of the address I prepared for the children. - -
“In September 1939, German armies marched into Poland, and my country the United Kingdom, seeing the danger of Naziism, declared war on Hitler's Germany. There followed almost six years of war as Hitler's armies invaded your country, Belgium, France and, later, USSR.
You, in the Netherlands know what that meant in terms of loss of freedom, cruelty of all kinds, deportation and general oppression.
From the first day of the war, the Royal Air Force operated against this barbaric regime. Not only did the RAF Bomber Command defend the United Kingdom, but it attacked the enemy in his own country, in the air, in occupied territory - indeed wherever he could be found.
Its airmen, volunteers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were joined by many others from, for example, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Some had escaped from their occupied countries in Europe - Polish, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Czechoslovakia.
In this emotional ceremony, you are paying homage to some of them in this place today.
During the war, in order to produce its war materials, Germany required oil to power its factories, aircraft, tanks, warships, submarines, vehicles. On the night of June 20/21, 1944, 120 bombers were sent to attack the major synthetic oil producing area of the Ruhr in west Germany. The target was Gelsenkirchen. 20 Lancasters from 106 Squadron based at Metheringham - in eastern England were included, each carrying five tons of bombs. 141 airmen. I, Gilbert Gray, aged 19, was one of them.
We took off late at night - 11.40 pm - flying southeast to enter the Netherlands air space at the mouth of the River Rhine. Thereafter, we followed the Rhine system at about 17,000 feet, trying to keep clear of the searchlights and anti-aircraft fire. As we approached the heavenly defended Ruhr industrial area we gasped when we saw what awaited us.
Near our target, we swung sharply south, through blinding white searchlights into the red inferno, found our aiming point, dropped our bomb-load as accurately as we could - it was 01.42 in the morning - then turned sharply north-westwards on our way back to base, crossing the Ijsselmeer at about 2.30 am. Little did we realise that the German fighter planes were looking for us. In the darkness, two of our 106 Squadron Lancasters were shot down by them and the 15 airmen were killed. One was flown by Pilot Officer Brodie, the other by Flying Officer Bellingham. The latter carried an extra crew member, Squadron Leader Loughborough. All were young - some only 19 or 20 years old!
We did not see them go down, of course, but when we got back to base we realised that some of our airmen were missing. That was not unusual since it happened quite regularly. However, at the time, we had no idea of what had happened to them. Now we do know, thanks to my Dutch friends who have done careful research.
And now, after so many years - 70 years!! - you wish to honour them further. In this ceremony, not only are you honouring them, but you are honouring all of us who served in Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force during the 1939-1945 period. I have myself experienced the great generosity of the people of the Netherlands towards the Bomber Command whose noisy engines woke them at night but which also brought them hope and encouragement during the German occupation.
I speak for the lads of Bomber Command. Ladies and gentlemen, friends, we salute you and we thank you. Girls and boys - may you lead long happy and successful lives. God bless the Netherlands.”
The commemoration service took place on May 4th 2014 at Heerewaarder/Rossum. The address was delivered. A memorial plaque bearing the names of the airmen was unveiled. The National Anthem was played. After the service, balloons were released, each bearing a label on which the names were recorded with the hope that, according to Herman, the easterly wind blowing at the time would blow some of them over to Britain.
In his letter following the event, Gijs Krist closed with the words so often spoken by our Dutch friends – “Thank you for all you did for us.”