George William Palmer

Flying Officer George William Palmer
George William Palmer
Died	27 August 1944 (aged 29) Aastruplund, Denmark
Cause of death	Bomb Aimer in Lancaster downed by enemy action
Resting place	GL. Rye Churchyard, Jutland, Denmark
Monuments	A collective grave containing the remains of four airmen of the Royal Air Force and three of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Education	Boston Grammar School
Spouse	Sybil Eileen Palmer
Parents	James Palmer, Frances Lucy Palmer

George William Palmer was the don of James and Frances Lucy Palmer of Weston.

A Flying Officer Palmer (153386) he was a member of 166 Sqdn, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

He died, aged 29 on 27 August 1944.

He is buried in GL. Rye Churchyard. Rye is a village of Jutland, some 40 kilometres south-west of Aarhus. GL is an abbreviation for the Danish word gammel=old; the churchyard is on the north-east side of the village 5 kilometres from Rye railway station. In it are buried in a collective grave four airmen of the Royal Air Force and three of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

My 7 flying heroes

Extracts from an article written by Anders Lund

Preface

In August 1944 one of these many bombers crashed on a field near Aastruplund in Eastern Jutland, Denmark.During the Second World War this field belonged to my grandfather Svend Andersen; today the undersigned is the owner of the farm where the bomber crashed.

This plane crash got to take up a lot of space in my grandfather’s life, as he after the War and further on to his death in 1995 had contact to the relatives of the airmen of the crashed bomber. During many years I have listened to my grandfather when he told about this event, and I have inherited quite a lot of material as regards this matter, including many letters written to him by the relatives in order to get information of their sons and husbands.

Furthermore several other persons have had an unforgettable experience in connection with the crash of the bomber, e.g. those who came hurrying up to the crash early in the morning the 27th August and the gravedigger at churchyard in Gl. Rye.

August 1944

In the night between the 26th and the 27th August 1944 the Bomber Command in England sent 531 bombers on missions. 327 bombers were sent to Kiel and 174 bombers to Köningsberg. Furthermore 30 bombers were sent to Kiel and the Danzig Bay on a mine laying mission. Out of the 327 bombers, 17 and their crew were lost. On the mission to Köningsberg with 174 bombers, 4 bombers with crew were lost. The mine laying mission to the Danzig Bay with 30 participating bombers cost 5 bombers and their crew. Totally the loss of the latter night can be made up to 5%.

Flak or anti-aircraft fire sending shells several kilometres up in the air before they exploded, and enemy fighters were the main cause of the great loss of bombers.

The crew

The crew with which I am occupied, belonged to the Kirmington Air Base in North Lincolnshire where Squadron 166 had its domicile. A Lancaster had a crew consisting of 7 men. LM694 had a mixed crew consisting of four Englishmen and 3 Canadians.

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The bomb aimer was George William Palmer from England, 29 years old, married and father or stepfather to Sheila. Palmers’ place was in the “nose” of the aircraft. Approaching the target area the bomb aimer took over the steering of the aircraft until the bomb cargo had been dropped, after which the pilot took over the steering again, setting the course for England. If the bomb sight was fed with the right numbers for altitude, speed, course, wind direction and speed, it was very accurate. The bomb aimer was also the front gunner, in the nose above the bomb sight there were two Brownings 303 machine guns.

It was mission number 21 from Kirmington of this crew; they arrived at the base on the 13th June 1944. According to a letter written to my grandfather in 1946 by the mother of the pilot, Frederick J. Dee, it was the mission number 27 of this crew. Furthermore the mother wrote that they all hoped to manage three missions more, thus having done a total of 30 missions, after which they would have got half a year’s leave from active war duty. Thus one may conclude that this crew had flown 7 missions from another air base and squadron before Kirmington.

Having made 30 missions, it was so that the airmen got half a year’s leave, after which they had to make additional 20 missions. If an airman survived two such rounds which are 50 missions, RAF and the military could never more claim for anything of him. However, few airmen got so far. Beyond a good education, good equipment, exemplary interpersonal skills among the members of the crew, you should be extremely lucky to survive – usually many a crew had not the sufficient luck.

Having survived the first five missions, you were experienced. The greatest loss happened during the first missions – a new crew had not the necessary experience to avoid anti-aircraft artillery and enemy fighters. If a crew was getting on for 30 missions, you often saw heavy losses among these too, due to the fact that you in some cases overestimated yourself and underestimated the enemy. Another reason could be that you had frayed nerves and made silly mistakes.

The Lancaster bomber

The Lancaster bomber LM694 was brand-new and had not yet been on any mission. This aircraft had been delivered to Kirmington Airbase Monday the 22nd August and had only had 15 hours in the air before its last mission.

The last mission

Saturday morning the 26th August 1944 the pilot, Frederick J. Dee and his 6 men crew could see that they together with 4 other bombers from Kirmington should take part in a bomb mission the coming night. During the morning they drove to their aircraft, LM694, to talk with the mechanic and the other ground crew. To each aircraft there were firmly attached a mechanic, a metalworker and an electrician. The ground crew could tell how much fuel there was filled on the plane and the type of the loaded bombs. The fuel quantity told them how far away they should, and the type of the bombs told them of the bomb target. Having got this information the airmen and the ground crew guessed the destination of the mission.

Later that day, after the ground crew had ended all their work with the aircraft, the airmen checked the aircraft to be sure that everything was correct adjusted and perfect functioning. During their preflight check, the army chaplain and the Wing Commander passed by, wishing them a good trip. At Kirmington airfield it was a tradition that the army chaplain and the chief of the airbase came and wished a good trip to everybody going on a mission the present day or the coming night.

Later in the afternoon, Saturday the 26th August, the 5 crews in Kirmington took part in a briefing of the upcoming bomb mission. The code word for mine laying was “Gardening”, and the code word for the area in which the mines should be dropped, was “Privet” which meant Danzig. The mission was consequently a mission to the Danzig Bay with mines. The route was shown by means of a red thread on a big map of Europe. Flight altitude, altitude from which the bombs had to be dropped, take off time etc., this information was given here, together with information of places with anti-aircraft fire and places where attacks from enemy night fighters might be expected.

Later, after the briefing, each man of the crew got his flight equipment and his escape parcel. Among other things the escape parcel contained photos for false passports and other documents, a razor and ointment to painful feet, pills to make ditch water drinkable, maps and a compass. Furthermore money to the over flown countries was distributed, apart from German money because one did not consider it to be possible to escape from Germany. The airmen’s parcels contained also caffeine pills. Particularly the mid-upper and the rear turret gunner needed these to keep the concentration on long missions. It was also possible to get biscuits and coffee with them and that was real coffee. However, they could not have the coffee until they were back over England where the risk for enemy fighters was negligible and the flight altitude was low enough to take away the oxygen masks.

The airmen put on their flying suits which were most comprehensive for the gunners. They had several layers on, including electrical heated underwear and gloves because they were sitting in unheated surroundings in which the temperature was minus 20 to 30 degrees centigrade (-68 to -86 degrees Fahrenheit) flying in 20,000 feet.

This time the load was mines as earlier mentioned, five pieces in all, three Mk. VI and two Mk. IX. The mines had to be dropped from 14,000 feet.

Starting from the base the bombers took off at intervals of one minute, and they all joined a holding in a big triangle until all the bombers were airborne. When all the bombers were airborne, they set the course for the target of the current mission. LM694 took off from Kirmington at 8:45 pm. The outward flight was uneventful and was carried through during good weather conditions. About 1:30 am they arrived at the target, and the mines were dropped from 14,000 ft as ordered. Before the main body arrived at the target, a pathfinder squadron had already been there and dropped target indicator bombs in order to make the most possible precise bombing. In cloudy weather the indicator bombs were dropped in parachutes above and in the clouds to mark the bomb targets.

On their way home to England the weather had changed. There was a report of ice-formation and electrical storms why the bombers were redirected to the Lossiemouth Airbase on the north eastern coast of Scotland. An electrical storm is weather with lightning and discharges giving luminous rings of fire around the propellers and a border of fire on all edges of an aircraft. Many of the instruments of the aircraft did not work during these conditions, e.g. the compass, and this made it impossible to navigate resulting in losing one's way high in the airspace.

The crash

On their way across Denmark the enemy night fighters were very active. Two of Kirmington’s bombers were hit and crashed. LM652 from Kirmington crashed in the water in Begtrup Vig (Begtrup Bay), south of Mols. The bodies of the pilot and the turret gunner were found in October 1944, while the rest of the crew has never been found.

LM694 crashed burning on my grandfather’s field by Aastruplund.

The other three bombers from Kirmington returned undamaged from 6:00 - 06:35 am after a mission of rather more than 9 hours.

The crew on the bombers had some difficulty in looking down from the aircraft. In the summer 1944 the Germans had found out mounting machine guns in their fighters tilting 70 degrees upwards. Then they could sneak up below the bombers and open fire. This method of attack was in German named Schräge Musik. The objectives preferred were the fuel tanks of the bombers. However, this method was only used by the German fighters when the bombers were on their way home having dropped their load of bombs. This kind of attack would be pure suicide for an attacking fighter pilot if an aircraft was loaded with bombs. We will never find out if exactly this fate happened to LM694, but it is a possibility.

About half past three in the morning LM694 crashed burning to the ground and exploded. Some local people were witnesses to the crash. If they had got up early this morning because of a heavy thunderstorm or they had got up due to unusual great flying activity, one can not know. This night the Braedstrup area was passed by quite a lot of bombers returning to England, and it is said that there were violent aerial combats with German night fighters.

I have been told that the aircraft was seen passing overhead Nim close to the church, flying in direction towards Traeden. Maybe the pilot on their way towards Traeden had seen the long flat fields near Aastruplund and got the aircraft turned in direction towards Aastruplund hoping to be able to land the aircraft. Several people tell of a burning aircraft or fire ball coming from the north, passing the farm “Marienlyst” in low altitude and crashing to the ground south of the road “Sandvejen” resulting in a tremendous explosion. The 25th June 1946 my grandfather wrote a letter to England in which he wrote that it was assumed that the crew died in the fire before the crash.

Immediately after the crash some local people had hurried up to the place. Somebody was looking for weapons and ammunition, other people would like to have a parachute of which they could make new shirts for the children – you were short of everything during the last war years. Maybe somebody was just curious to see what had dropped down from the sky. Ejvind Vinther, a haulage contractor in the village Aastruplund close to, and a driver named Henrik were first present. Ejvind found a parachute of which his wife, Hatla Frederikke Frederiksen, later made underwear for their daughters.

At home at the farm my grandparents were lying in their beds until the neighbour, Rasmus Rasmussen came from his farm, Aastrup Nygaard about four o'clock and began to knock at the window to their bedroom, shouting: ”Svend, wake up, it is burning down on your field”. My grandparents got up, and Rasmus told what he knew. My grandfather would go down there, but my grandmother thought he should stay at home, so of course he stayed at home with Ester and the children. Rasmus Rasmussen had also phoned to the local police inspector Damgaard in Braedstrup and reported the crash. Subsequently Damgaard had informed the occupying power in Braedstrup and the Criminal Investigation Department in Horsens.

Quickly after the crash German soldiers from Braedstrup under the command of Hauptfeldwebel Hein were at the impact place, after which the area was closed off in a big circle. Nobody else but the German Wehrmacht had admittance, apart from the CID inspecting the crash place, making a comprehensive report. I have got a copy of this report, in which it is detailed described how it looked around the crater, and what else happened the early morning around the crash place. During the morning German soldiers went out to the nearest farms and to Aastruplund to ask for survivors; however, they did not make real search of the houses.

When it got light, my grandfather walked down to the cordon, and via a German soldier who talked a little Danish, he got him told that he was the owner of the field and that he would like to see how much damage the crash had caused on the crops on the field. The crop was lupines which had been mown, but not yet raked up. Then he was allowed to get nearer to the crash place, however, not nearer than 25 m. The sight that met him was horrible. Wreckage and bodies torn to pieces were lying scattered among one another over a big area. The biggest part of the airmen he saw, was a piece of chest. There was an unpleasant stench from the burnt body parts. Besides the main crater of 30 x 75 m there were four smaller ones coming from each engine. The tail wheel was intact, but had been hurled 200 m away. The big main landing wheels were burning for several hours, and ammunition went off for a long time after the crash. The German soldiers, some of them with a potato fork, other of them with their bare hands, walked around gathering together and putting the body parts in four paper bags. The German soldiers were not very careful with their clean-up. Several weeks after the Germans had left the place, you could find ghastly and evil-smelling things.

Afterwards my grandfather never disguised that he regretted having gone to the crash place. He never forgot the sight that met him that morning in August. That experience he could not get rid of again, and even as an old man, it disgusted him when we talked about it.

During the day many curious persons passed. One of them was Gunnar Viby Mogensen from Braedstrup who was 11 years old at that time. Gunnar biked down the road Aavej towards Bredstenbro and continued along the track that started at No. 39. He went a little bit on to a group of people, where he stopped and saw two black horrifying lumps lying on the ground. It was two halves of the same much burnt person. Now Gunnar quickly biked homewards again.

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LM694 was attacked and hit by a German night fighter. My guess is, that the German night fighter was flown by Major Horst Günther Höfele, staff III/NJG1.

The funeral

In the evening the 27th August an ambulance came and collected the paper bags with the airmen’s bodies which maybe were driven to Gl. Rye where the Germans had an airfield.

Early in the morning the 30th August German soldiers closed off the churchyard in Gl. Rye. However, the gravedigger and gravedigger’s wife sneaked up in the church tower from where they saw German soldiers kick some bags into a grave. There was no clergyman present. Few days after the funeral the Germans placed a white wooden cross with an inscription on the burial plot. After the German capitulation the burial plot was laid out at the expense of the parishioners.

A few days after the crash the families of the airmen received a telegram and later a letter from RAF telling that their sons and husbands were reported missing, having not returned after a bomb mission.

The death certificate in the parish register

The German death certificate received by the vicar in Gl. Rye the 6th September reads thus, translated:

Death certificate for the English crew members from the crash in Traeden the 27th August 1944. The English bomber was shot down, the type of it has it not been able to establish, three unidentifiable bodies and some individual charred body remains have been saved. The identifiable bodies are:

Body No. 1      Sergeant Jack White               Strongly charred
Body No. 2      Sergeant Jakob Schaper            Strongly charred
Body No. 3      Sergeant F. B. Lewis              Strongly charred

It has not been possible to identify the rest of the body parts. Cause of death was burn and injuries.

Note: Sergeant F. B. Lewis was not a member of the crew and it is a mystery how his name ended up on the death certificate.

The memorial cross

The place of the crash was closed off by the Germans for roughly 14 days. The soldiers had been accommodated at a farm down by the river, Gudenaaen. They stayed in the barn at the address Aavej 44 by Magnus Petersen, and the officer of the Germans stayed at Bredstenbro Inn. Magnus Petersen had during his youth been in service in Germany and Poland and learned German why he could talk with the soldiers. The Germans gathered all the wreckage and brought the metal on trucks to the station in Braedstrup from where all of it was loaded on goods wagons and sent to Germany to be melt down and recycled.

At home at my grandfathers farm they daily got forage to the animals at the farm not so far away from the place of the crash. Outside the closing off, my grandfather had seen a long spar from the aircraft. He would very much like to get hold of this spar, so one day when the farmhand Rasmus Due Andersen was out to get forage for the animals, he picked up the spar and placed it on the bottom of the carriage and placed the forage on top of that. Driving homewards with the forage, a German soldier followed Rasmus. In all probability it caused quite a lot of nervousness. Fortunately the soldier turned back again just before the load came back into the yard. The spar was put away in the loft and covered with straw. There it was allowed to stay until the war was over.

After the Liberation my grandfather got master smith Ibsgaard in Traeden to make the memorial cross as it stands today. The smith fused some of the metal to a plate on which the names later were engraved. The engraving was made by watchmaker and goldsmith Jul Madsen in Braedstrup without charge.

See Also

• War Memorials