P4372
Crashes > of the R.A.F.
During the attack on petrochemical plants in Gelsenkirchen, the Hampden P4372 was fired upon by flak. The crew parachuted out, landed on the right side of the Rhine in the Porz area and became prisoners of war.
One crew member landed at the Linder Bruch in Porz-Lind and hid on the Mauspfad in the house No. 44 of the Thelen family. The next morning he was discovered there, arrested by German soldiers and taken by tram to the main station of the Wahner barracks.
The pilot, Officer Cedric Owen Dunkels, was probably hit by flak fragments before he took off and after landing in Wahn was taken to the hospital there with severe pelvic injuries. He succumbed to his severe injuries at 01:20 and was buried in the cemetery in Wahn.
The aircraft itself crashed without a pilot in Sürth on the left bank of the Rhine. In the vicinity of the SÜRTH machine factory, about 200m. from Hammerschmidtstraße, the aircraft hit the ground and exploded on impact.
above:
Gravesite of P/O Dunkels at the cemetery in Porz-Wahn.
left:
Death certificate of P/O Cedric Owen Dunkels