(see also http://users.pandora.be/milo/)

Bob Stone and his son, Ted Hornsby and Jack and Bobbie Harris represented the Association at the unveiling of a Memorial Stone to the crew of Flight Sergeant G.W.Hinde who crashed at Westerlo. After three days they all came away considerably moved and very overwhelmed by their experiences. Jack Harris - 'I thought I was prepared for the visit but as it unfolded I began to realise it was way beyond all expectation'.

On the night of 21/22 May, 1944, Bomber Command sent 510 Lancasters to Duisburg and lost 29; 550 despatched 18 aircraft and lost 3 - 550's worst night. One of the three not to return was Flight Sgt. G.W.Hinde and crew flying DV309, BQ-S. They crashed at 01:51 on the outskirts of Westerlo and all crew members were killed. German records show they were shot down by the German night fighter ace, Oberstleutnant Heinz Wolfgang Schnauffer who finished the war with 121 kills, all bombers. The bodies of the navigator and wireless operator were never found - an indication. that something catastrophic occurred. At more or less the same time, another Lancaster from 626 Squadron also crashed very close to Westerlo. The Germans quickly cordoned off both sites and removed wreckage and bodies. It was never firmly established which crash belonged to which aircraft until in 1997 a piece of wreckage was found bearing the number of the 626 aircraft. This established that the 550 aircraft crashed at Schobbroek and the 626 aircraft at Herselt.

Chris Van Kerckhoven, a local War History Researcher, formed a committee to raise funds to build Memorial Stones to the two Lancaster crews. DV309 crashed with a tremendous explosion and possibly one or more bombs were still on board. It destroyed the farmhouse belonging to the Rombouts family but Fons Rombouts, who was aged 3 at the time of the crash, became Chairman of the Committee and donated land from his farm for the Memorial Stone. The other most active member of the Committee was Jos De Rijck.

The Committee went to great lengths to trace relatives of the members of the two crews. They invited Mrs.Margaret Abbott, the daughter of Sgt. C.C.Sharland, the bomb-aimer of the Hinde crew (she was born after her father died) and Mrs. Muriel Dunster who, at the time of the crash had been engaged to Sgt. E.C.Beacham, the mid-upper gunner. They also invited F/Sgt. P.Tweedy, DFM who was the flight engineer of a 635 P.F.F. Squadron Lancaster shot down near Westerlo on the Duisburg raid but he managed to bale out and was sheltered by the Belgian Resistance until Allied troops reached Belgium in September. The Belgians provided accommodation and meals for all the visitors at Tongerlo Abbey, very ancient and very monastic, and a hotel.

The unveiling of the Memorial Stone to the 550 crew took place on 21 May, 54 years to the day after the crash. It was a public holiday in Belgium and the day began with a parade of 50 World War II military vehicles brought from Antwerp. A procession from Tongerlo Abbey took everyone to Westerlo Town Hall where military standards were much in evidence and the Burgomeister, British Legion and Committee officials gave speeches followed by a Book Signing. Lunch was provided at Voortkapel. A procession to the Memorial Stone site included many standards and two bands; the local houses showed Belgian flags and the odd Union Jack. At the site, VIPs and visitors were shown to a stand and speeches followed with translation both ways. Jack Harris presented 550 Plaques to the Burgomeister and three members of the Organising Committee. A short service was held and, when the Memorial Stone was unveiled, the two Belgian flags which had been draped around it, were folded and presented to Mrs. Abbott and Mrs Dunster. About a dozen wreaths were laid including one from 550 Squadron Association; photographs were taken and at the very end a helicopter dropped Flanders poppies. The ceremony was attended by about 500 people and covered by Belgian national TV, the press and radio. The day concluded with another meal at Voortkapel.

The next day involved a visit to the big military cemetery at Antwerp for another service organised by the Antwerp branch of The British Legion and the laying of wreaths on the graves of the five members of F/Sgt. Hinde's crew who are buried there. Our Association laid a wreath. A lunch and a visit to a brewery followed and the day ended with dinner near Westerlo. The next day a Memorial Stone to the 626 Squadron crew was unveiled after another ceremony and a Spitfire pilot was similarly honoured.

The warmth of the feelings of the local people towards the crews of Bomber Command were quite overwhelming. One also has to see everything the Belgians did for us in the context that during the War over 5,000 aircraft, Allied and German, crashed in Belgium and that the population of Westerlo is only 20,000. Yet they could organise and fund all that for one 550 crew. it was a case of 'Their Memorial, Our Freedom'.

DV-309 Crew Members

F/Sgt. C.C. Sharland	F/Sgt. G.W. Hinde	Sgt. D.R.M. Davies	Sgt. E.C. Beacham
	F/Sgt. David Hughes

Thanks to Louis Michiels (http://users.pandora.be/milo/) and Dominic Gribbin for supplying the photos of the crew

Pilot Officer GW Hinde Pilot Royal Air Force 22nd May 1944 Age 21	Seargeant  T.L.J. Whittick Flight Engineer Royal Air Force 22nd May 1944 Age 19	1318198 Flight Sergeant CC Sharland Air Bomber Royal Air Force 22nd May 1944 Age 22	An Airman of the 1939-1945 War	158796 Sergeant EC Beacham Air Bomber Royal Air Force 22nd May 1944 Age 30	1876160 Sergeant WAJ Young Air Gunner Royal Air Force 22nd May 1944 Age 19

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