The last remains of a British bomber that never returned from a daring attack on Nazi Germany in World War II have washed up on the Dutch coast.
‘Amazed’ local residents discovered fuselage wreckage of a Short Stirling aircraft on the beach of Camperduin in North Holland after storm Eunice in February.
Now the twisted metal has been identified as bomber BF396, which was lost with its eight-man crew on the night of December 17, 1942.
BF396 took off from Newmarket in Suffolk to bomb German industry at Fallersleben, but was shot down by Oberleutnant Werner Husemann along the Dutch coast.
Those lost aboard the BF396 were pilot Victor Mitchell, co-pilot Trevor Horace Bagnall; navigator Reginald William Pearson; aerial bomber Gerald Thomas Padden, radio operator Stuart John Goff; flight engineer Robert Hart; center gunner Arthur Henry Rider and rear gunner Albert Charles William Parker.
The last remains of a British bomber that never returned from a daring attack on Nazi Germany in World War II have washed up on the Dutch coast. ‘Amazed’ local residents discovered the wreckage of a Short Stirling aircraft on the beach of Camperduin in North Holland after storm Eunice in February
Now the twisted metal has been identified as bomber BF396, which with its crew of eight (seven pictured above) was lost on the night of December 17, 1942. Above: Crew members whose names are known are Petty Officer William Pearson (top left); Sergeant Gerald Thomas Padden (above, second from left); Sergeant Stuart John Goff (top right); Sergeant Robert Hart (front left); Warrant Officer Trevor Horace Bagnall (front, center). The pilot posing at the top, second from right, is believed to be Sergeant William Charles Albert Parker. Sergeant Arthur Henry Rider is believed to be seated in the front, bottom right
Three Short Stirling bombers flying over the British countryside, circa 1942-3. The Bomber It was the first four-engined aircraft used by the RAF in World War II
Graham Padden — whose father, Dennis, is crewmate Gerald’s last surviving sibling — hopes the discovery can close other family members.
He said: ‘I was somewhat surprised when I was approached with the news that the wreckage had washed ashore.
“While we’re not sure they’re wreckage from BF396, there’s a very high degree of certainty.
Wing Commander Victor Mitchell, who did not appear in the group photo
‘My father, now almost 92, is still alive and follows developments closely.
“He can remember ‘Bunty’—that was his brother’s nickname—but he was killed when my father was a 12-year-old boy.
“I think the next steps might be to try to locate the plane that crashed, and of course the eight souls who perished in the cold sea when the burning plane came to an end on a dark December night.
“Recovery, solid identification or personal belongings would certainly bring my father to an end.”
Martijn Visser of the Egmond ’40-’45 Foundation, a nearby museum about the Second World War, could not believe his eyes when he saw the wreck.
‘We first looked at the details; it had stamps that read ‘AM’. The Ministry of Aviation was a ministry during World War II that was responsible for the ongoing war.
The wreckage of the bomber is compared to the intact fuselage of another bomber
The wreckage of the bomber is now at the Egmond ’40-’45 Foundation, a museum about the Second World War. Above: The remains of the aircraft are compared to another fuselage
Graham Padden – whose father, Dennis (pictured), is the last surviving sibling of crew member Gerald – hopes the discovery can close other family members
The wartime Air Ministry logo can be seen on part of the Short Stirling wreckage
Photo shows the estimated placement of the wreckage on a complete Short Stirling aircraft
“Then we looked at old photos of World War II planes to find the details we saw on the wreckage.
‘We also discovered some numbers on the inside of the hull. These numbers are unique to Short Stirling aircraft.
‘We then took the wreckage to a museum here in the Netherlands with the original Short Stirling hull from the Second World War.
“We compared the pieces and they matched!”
Husemann, who flew a twin-engine Messerschmitt, was a night fighter who was awarded the Iron Cross for his 34 aerial victories.
All those on board the BF396 were honored at the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey.
The wreck is now kept in the bunker museum Stichting Egmond ’40-’45.
The Short Stirling bomber was designed in 1936 by the firm of Short Brothers to meet the new Air Ministry specifications for an aircraft capable of carrying 14,000 pounds of bombs and having a range of at least 2,000 miles.
It was the first four-engined aircraft to be used by the RAF in World War II and entered service in early 1941, the first mission being an attack on fuel tanks in Rotterdam in February of that year.
2,371 had been built, and by 1943 hundreds were flown in attacks on Germany and Italy, although they were incapable of carrying a maximum payload of bombs beyond 590 miles.
In December 1943, Stirlings began to withdraw from front-line operations due to the superiority of the Lancaster bomber, which could carry more bombs, had longer range and flew about 4,000 feet higher.
The Short Stirling bomber was designed in 1936 by the firm of Short Brothers to meet the new Air Ministry specifications for an aircraft capable of carrying 14,000 pounds of bombs and having a range of at least 2,000 miles.
They still had a part to play in the war and were used for secondary missions, including laying mines around German ports and deploying spies behind enemy lines.
Although not used in raids in the latter stages of the war, Stirlings could be seen in the Battle of Normandy, pulling gliders and dropping paratroopers during the D-Day landings.
They fulfilled the same function during the failed Operation Market Garden in the industrial Ruhr area of Germany and part of the Netherlands.
By the end of the war 14,500 sorties had flown from Stirlings with 27,000 tons of bombs dropped, 582 destroyed in action and 119 damaged and subsequently written off.
In later years, the aircraft were used by the Egyptian Air Force in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, while also being used for passenger flights in Belgium.