Crash Site Bristol Blenheim L9245 DX-P

On Friday, 10 May 1940, at approximately 3:30 p.m., the Bristol Blenheim with serial number L9245, code DX-P, belonging to RAF 57 Squadron, took off from its forward base at Rosières-en-Santerre, located in the northern French department of Somme in the Hauts-de-France region.

Together with two other Blenheim Mk.IVs from the squadron, the DX-P was assigned to conduct a reconnaissance flight over Belgium and the southern Netherlands. The objective assigned to the DX-P was a reconnaissance flight over Belgium.

The crew consisted of:

P/O. (2nd Lt.) Alban Thomas, Pilot,
Sgt. Penry Llewelyn Thomas, Observer,
Lac. (Corporal) Leslie Fredrick Jordan, Radio Operator/Gunner.

During their reconnaissance flight, they entered the airspace of the 's-Hertogenbosch, Tiel, Nijmegen region, after which they were intercepted west of Nijmegen by a German Messerschmitt Bf 109. This was flown by Leutnant (2nd Lt.) Emmerich Fluder of the 5th Squadron of Jagdgeschwader 27 from Fliegerhorst Bönninghardt, 20 km southwest of Wesel.

At around 12:08, the German pilot opened fire on the Blenheim DX-P, causing a fire to break out on board the Blenheim. It then crashed at around 10:28 (NL time) next to the Vogelenzangsebrug bridge on the banks of the River Linge, killing the three crew members. (Note: there is a discrepancy in the time indications in the available sources of information. These vary between “around noon” and “in the afternoon”).

P/O Thomas and Lac. Jordan were initially buried in Echteld after the crash. After the war, their remains were transferred to the cemetery in Hoek van Holland, where they rest to this day. A few weeks after the crash, the lower body of the missing pilot, Sgt. Thomas, was found in the River Linge near Zoelen and buried as an unknown pilot in the cemetery in Zoelen.

Later, in March 1941, an upper body was found in the river Linge near Buren/Buurmalsen, which was identified as Sgt. Thomas and subsequently buried in the cemetery in Buurmalsen. In view of the CWGC guidelines prohibiting DNA testing on fallen soldiers, both parts of the remains will never rest in one grave.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Corin Gelderblom
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze