The loss of liberator KH410 of 206 Sqn RAF April 1945.
(CAUTION - some of the following accounts contain graphic description of the crash and of injuries to the aircrew which may upset some people. If you might be upset by such descriptions please do not read any further).
The story behind Flyverstenen in Torstedlund Forest – in brief
Compiled and edited by Niels Norgaard Nielsen
Local History Archive for the former Stovring Municipality
Wedding party at "Højvang" near Aarestrup
On Friday 20 April 1945, a wedding party was held at "Højvang" for his daughter Ella Søndergaard Jensen and farmer Lars Christensen from Rødstrup near Vokslev. The wedding dinner withApproximately 150 participants were eaten in the barn. Later, at midnight, when they had a midnight snack, Andreas Søndergaard came in and said that "apparently an airplane had fallen down in the woods, for it burned, shot, smashed and struck stars and smoke thickly far east from the place". You could clearly see the smoke in the moonlit night.
Other witnesses, both from Aarestrup and around Nørlund, have since stated that when they had errand out at this late hour, in the moonlit night, saw a plane crash burning over Torstedlund Forest, and that they had also heard gunshots and the violent bangs when the plane The crash exploded Background to the plane crash.
In March 1945, a few months before the end of World War II, the Allies became aware that the Germans were in the process of sailing half a hundred barely completed U-boats to Norway, where the bomb-proof, concrete-cast submarine bases in Horten and Bergen were supposed to be completely finished and equipped for battle. The Allied response was to seek a halt to these voyages.
On Friday, 20th April, two Liberator B-24 bombers belonging to the 206th Squadron took off from the Scottish base Leuchars near Dundee. One with the hallmark N/206 took off at 2011 and the other with the hallmark L/206 at 2048. L/206 performed her task and safely returned to its base 0618 the next morning. Possibly this plane hit a submarine, The machine with N/206 took off first, but never made it home. Its flight time indicates that it has flown over the Skagerrak and Kattegat before the crash In the squadron's journal, it is laconically stated that "The machine didn't come back No signals received" It is the responsibility of this machine and its crew tragic end, this story is about.
Its highly experienced crew, most of which had flown together for almost a year, was known at the base as "The flying League of Nations", then it consisted of four Englishmen, two Welsh, two Canadians, one New Zealander, an Australian
and a Dutchman, the first pilot Nicodéme Guilonard, took over command of plane in January 1945.
Kristen Jensen's story about the sight in the forest
(CAUTION - graphic description of injuries).
"To begin with, when I Come out there in the afternoon On April 21, it was only very young German soldiers, I guess not much older than myself, well aged 15 to 17 years old, who were present at the crash site. They did nothing, so we could do without problems get to go around and look at the wreckage and the remains of the crew members.
There was one of the airmen, if the upper part of the head had blown away, it I still remember. Other places you could see torn limbs, intestines and other body parts. All in all, I saw the remains of three to four of the flight crew, lying hollow to bolt between the wreckage of the plane.
The plane itself was also completely smashed, so there were larger and smaller pieces of debris everywhere, because the plane had exploded at the moment of the crash and then burnt.
Not until late afternoon a lorryload of adult German soldiers came driving in a lorry When they came, we were immediately removed from the area, which was then cordoned off to all civilian access, and we were not told that what happened to the killed airmen.
