BK776
Crashes > of the R.A.F.
During the attack on Wuppertal, the Stirling III, BK776, comes under the fire of the anti-aircraft battery of the 4th/371 on the return flight, is hit and crashes burning at Odenspiel near Eckenhagen.
The crew tried to save themselves with the parachute, but the altitude was too low for four crew members and they hit the ground despite pulling the ripcord. They and the pilot P/O Bennett, who remained in the aircraft, can only be recovered dead.
Three other crew members manage to bail out and land on the ground. Fl/Sgt Davidson and Sgt Middleton are arrested and become German prisoners of war. Sgt Harrison was seriously wounded near Odenspiel and taken to the hospital in Waldbröhl, then later to the military hospital in Siegburg, from where he was not released as a prisoner of war until early October 1943.
The crew tried to save themselves with the parachute, but the altitude was too low for four crew members and they hit the ground despite pulling the ripcord. They and the pilot P/O Bennett, who remained in the aircraft, can only be recovered dead.
Three other crew members manage to bail out and land on the ground. Fl/Sgt Davidson and Sgt Middleton are arrested and become German prisoners of war. Sgt Harrison was seriously wounded near Odenspiel and taken to the hospital in Waldbröhl, then later to the military hospital in Siegburg, from where he was not released as a prisoner of war until early October 1943.
Top left:
The pilot, Pilot Officer Raymond Frederick Bennettof the Royal New Zeeland Air-Force (RNZAF)
top right:
The crash site around Odenspiel
centre left:
The death certificate of P/O Bennett
bottom left:
The grave location of P/O Bennett at the Cologne South Cemetery
bottom right:
The burial site of the rest of the crew