W5570 - Luftkriegsarchiv Köln

The crash of the W5570 remains a mystery to this day, as neither the location of the crash nor the whereabouts of the entire crew are known. What is certain is that the Wellington W5570 of 12 Sqd took off from Binbrook airfield at 21:58 on April 10, 1942.  It was one of a total of 254 aircraft whose destination was the KRUPP works in Essen.

12 aircraft did not return from the mission, they were the target of very intensive anti-aircraft fire. A total of 44 aircraft reached their airfield in England, some with very heavy damage. But the German night fighters also gave the bomber fleet a hard time, losing four aircraft to them alone.

The fate of the W5570 is not 100% clear. It is very likely that it was shot down by an anti-aircraft unit near Wuppertal.  The flak diary records the shooting down of an unknown aircraft at 00:50 by the 2nd/333rd. This is the only shot down that cannot be attributed to a specific aircraft or crash site.

However, the city archives in Wuppertal have no records of a crash in the Wuppertal area.

In the literature and other records, two different crash sites are mentioned for the W5570:

1) Cologne, Adolf-Hitler Straße. No crash is recorded for Cologne on this day, and there was no Adolf-Hitler Straße in Cologne.

2) Hürth-Bachem or Bachem near Frechen. No crash is reported or recorded for this day in Hürth or in the Bachem district.

Despite intensive research and interviews with several experts, the location of the crash cannot be verified to this day. The fate of the crew also remains a mystery and they are still presumed missing.