JD460
Crashes > of the R.A.F.
During the air raid on Mönchen-Gladbach, Halifax II, JD460 was shot at by Lt. Johannes Hager of the 6th / NJG 1. The aircraft then crashed in an open field about one kilometre southwest of Oberkrüchten. Three crew members were able to save themselves by parachute and were taken prisoner of war by the Germans.
Three other crew members were recovered dead from the wreckage the next day and buried in the cemetery in Mönchen Gladbach.
A week later, the burnt body of another crew member was found when the wreckage was recovered. It was probably the pilot, Fl/O John Goulding, who was buried in the cemetery in Niederkrüchten. During the exhumation carried out after the war, however, he could not be positively identified. He therefore only has a memorial plaque and no actual grave at Rheinberg War Cemetery.
Additional sources:
Book by E. Hügen ‘ Elmpt and Niederkrüchten’ , 1993
Book by Joe Labonde ‘ From the history of Oberkrüchten’ , 2000
Above:
The crash site of the Halifax, JD460, about one kilometre southwest of Oberkrüchten.
Left:
The pilot, Flying Officer John Goulding, RNZAF