F/O Francis
Rush, F/O William Scott and F/O Clive Luther were
Australians, the rest of
the crew were all English.
On December
16th, 1943 they took off from their base at Oakington in Cambridgeshire, in
their Lancaster. The target was Berlin and this was
the 6th mission in what was called the
Battle for Berlin. Bomber Command paid
repeated visits to the German capital late
1943 through early 1944.
Their
Lancaster was claimed by
Lt Heinz Rolland at 18.02
near the city of Alkmaar.
The plane crashed near Stompetoren, a few
kilometers to the east of Alkmaar. The whole
crew except one was killed. Sgt John Ogg
bailed out of the Lancaster and was found by
a farmer. He was taken to Broek where he was
given civilian clothes and a Dutch ID card.
The resistance tried to get him back to
England via the escape routes. After
Christmas they took him to Amsterdam, but an
attempt to move him further along the line
was unsuccessful. Sgt. Ogg stayed in
Rotterdam, working on a farm, until the
liberation.
At practically
the same time that F/O Rush's plane was shot
down, another Lancaster of 7 squadron,
captained by W/O Watson, was
shot down north east of Lemmer.
On 4 May 1994,
the people of Stompetoren dedicated this
plaque to the crew that lie buried in the
town.
