The Belgian town of Hamont-Achel is located 115km from Brussels and 30km from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. In 1943 the townspeople of Hamont-Achel became witnesses to the high price of victory being paid by the allied aircrews of RAF Bomber Command. This tribute outlines the sacrifices of the first of two crews whose aircraft came to rest near the town Hamont-Achel and the efforts of the townspeople to preserve their memory.

 The following is a historical reconstruction of events concerning the final flight of Lancaster III ED488 VN-M, which crashed on 2nd February 1943 at Hamont in Belgium. It has been reconstructed from the R.A.F. Bomber Command Intelligence Narrative of Operations, the Operations Record Book of the RAF’s 50 Squadron, German wreck salvage reports and from eye-witness accounts.

 On the evening of 2nd February 1943 an allied fleet of 161 aircraft set out for a bombing raid on the city of Cologne in Germany. During this air raid on Cologne, the Stirlings, which had to mark the targets with flares before the bombers flew over, used new H2S target searching radar devices. The 5th Group of this fleet was comprised of 74 Lancaster bombers. As part of 5th group, the Royal Air Force’s 50 Squadron, which had its base at Skellingthorpe (Lincoln), sent 8 Lancaster bombers. Six of these aircraft were completely successful in attacking the target and returning home safely. One aircraft returned early owing to the rear turret being out of service. One aircraft, Lancaster III ED488 VN-M piloted by Flying Officer Al Power and his crew, failed to return.

 The crew of  Lancaster ED488 was a mix of nationalities and experience. Pilot F/O Al Power was a member of the RCAF as was Navigator, F/O T.H. Church. Air Gunner F/Lt J.M. Bousfield of the RAF was decorated with a Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Gunner Sgt. S.D. Beadon also belonged to the Royal Air Force as did Flight Engineer Sgt. D. Clarke, Wireless Operator Sgt. V. Mitchell and Bomb Aimer Sgt D. Holland. 

 50 Squadron's Operational Records Book reports that most of the aircraft experienced trouble owing to the freezing up of the guns, but all agreed that what they had seen of the raid was a first-class effort. Terrific fires were raging over the whole area and the target area was so well illuminated by the glow that the pilot of one aircraft was able to clearly distinguish a factory and attack it. Defences were not heavy but flak was very accurate, and there were many searchlights.

 On their way home, the aircraft of F/O Al Power and his crew were attacked by a German night-fighter piloted by Hauptmann Streib. The two air gunners immediately opened fire on the attacking German plane, but a second attack left both air gunners fatally wounded. The steering mechanism was damaged and the plane caught fire. Since the plane was completely out of control, F/O Al Power instructed his crew to bale out, but as the last man to leave the plane, his parachute failed to open.

Al Power and crew in front of Lancaster VN-T at Skellingthorpe

The Lancaster flew low over a nearby farm, owned by the Tijskens family, and crashed in a swamp called 'de Papebos', in the Belgian village of Hamont at 9:27 P.M. A German report made on 3rd February, the day after the crash, mentioned that the plane lay under the swamp's surface. Another German report of 12th of February mentioned that to salvage the wreck would be technically impossible.

The crash site as it appears today.

Sgt Clark, Sgt Holland, Sgt Mitchell and F/O Church, who had been able to leave the burning plane in time, survived the war. They were all interned in German prison camps for several years. Long after the war, on 12th September 1983, they returned to the crash site at Hamont, to commemorate their fallen comrades for the first time. This commemoration was organized with the cooperation of the Limburgian Friends of the Allied Air Force (with grateful thanks to Mr. Peter Loncke of Lommel). F/O Church passed away at age 89 in 2005 in St.Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

The names of the two air gunners, Sgt Beadon and F/Lt Bousfield, are engraved in the R.A.F. memorial in Runnymede on the Thames, together with 20,454 names of other Commonwealth airmen that have no  known graves. F/Lt Bousfield had a pre-flight ritual of writing a quick note to his wife and children prior to flying on an operation in case he should fail to return, upon his successful return he would tear up the letter. On the  evening of February 2, 1943 he hurriedly composed a letter to his wife where he asked her to "Look after the children well as I love them and you so very much." Sadly for Mrs. Bousfield she would receive this letter and soon learn that her husband had been killed in action.

 F/O Al Power who remained at the controls of the stricken Lancaster until the last moment before baling out was buried in the military cemetery at Heverlee, Belgium.

Pilot F/O Al Power RCAF	Gunner Sergeant Stanley Beadon RAF	Gunner F/Lt Jack Bousfield DFC and wife.

 At the chapel of B.V.M. of de Poor in the hamlet De Haart of Hamont, a commemorative plaque mentions the names of the three war heroes of from 50 Squadron who lost their lives for our common freedom.

In gratitude of such bravery, war survivors and their descendants should never forget these people, or to put it in the words of Sir Winston Churchill: "Never before in the history of man, have so many owed so much to so few."

The chapel of B.V.M	Commemorative plaque on display at chapel

Notes:

The information which appears on this page was graciously provided by Rene Winters who writes:

Today, many people think peace and prosperity as being self-evident, not realizing how these values have been acquired through effort, dedication and sacrifice. Perhaps the insights of some one-time foes converge in the message of German officer Claus von Stauffenberg: "We should teach our children that decline and collapse can only be prevented by permanent struggle and constant search for renewal. And we should teach them that stagnation and immovability are equal to death".

Or in other words: peace is not a state of being, it is a permanent process.

Bombercrew.com wishes to extend our gratitude to Rene Winters and the people of Hamont-Achel, Belgium who have gone to great lengths to ensure the sacrifices of allied aircrew do not fade into history.