Thomas Sampson was born in
1921, son of William John and Lilian Annie
Sampson, of Ashburton, Canterbury New Zealand.
Thomas joined the Royal New
Zealand Air Force and after training was
attached to 466 Squadron (R.A.A.F.) which was
stationed in England. Thomas was a pilot and was
flying Wellington bombers out of Leconfield.
In the night of 13/14 May
1943, Thomas and his crew were tasked to fly a
mission to the German city of Bochum. His crew
consisted of:
The crew took off at 23.56 from
Leconfield in Wellington X1D MS473. After
crossing the Dutch coast, the plane began to
develop engine trouble and loose height. Thomas
decided to fly on and bomb the target, which he
did. When the plane
continued to loose height and came down to 5000
feet, Thomas ordered the crew to bail out.
Shortly therafter the engines seemed to pick up
again and the order was cancelled. When the
engines gave out again, four of the crew bailed
out. All were taken prisoner.
Thomas continued to fly his
plabe towards the Dutch coast and lost his life
when he either bailed out or ditched the
plane in the North Sea. The body of Thomas was
recovered from the sea by a fishing vessel on 10
August 1943, near Kijkduin.
P/O Thomas Sampsons is buried at
Den Haag (Westduin) General Cemetery, Allied
Plot. Row 4. Grave 72.
(picture
Auckland War Memorial)
Den Haag, The Netherlands
See also:
Other
casualties of 466 Squadron buried in the Netherlands
Acknowledgments:
Martyn, Errol W., For Your Tomorrow, Volume I and II,
Christchurch: Volplane Press 1999
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Directions to
Den Haag (Westduin)
General Cemetery
Posted 16
March 2010
If you have any suggestions, comments or
additional information, please
contact me.
This website is
dedicated to the men and women who died
and/or are buried in The Netherlands during
World War II.
