Description
Physical description
Panel from the fuselage of an RAF Halifax bomber, painted with bombs to indicate missions flown; last mission's bomb painted in by Germans with death's head, as it was shot down, all crew killed
Label
The panel was recovered from the research station (Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt) Hermann Goering in Braunschweig at the end of the Second World War, when taken over by the Ministry of Aircraft Production. It was found by Professor WJ Duncan, chief scientist and sent from Volkenrode to the Air Ministry in January of 1945, and passed on to the museum in 1946.
Later research undertaken shows that the panel likely came from HR697 of No 10 Squadron, based at Melbourne, one of ten Halifaxes shot down over Cologne 28/29 June 1943. It crashed at Kaberg, north of Maastricht, and its crew consisting of P/O RH Geddes, P/O HE Cross, P/O RE Bradshaw, Sgt D Brown, F/Sgt C Entwistle, Sgt R Shannon, Sgt RS White, Sgt AW Booth, was killed. They are interred at the British cemetery in Nijmegen.
History note
The panel was recovered from the research station (Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt) Hermann Goering in Braunschweig at the end of the Second World War, when taken over by the Ministry of Aircraft Production. It was found by Professor WJ Duncan, chief scientist and sent from Volkenrode to the Air Ministry in January of 1945, and passed on to the museum in 1946.
Later research undertaken shows that the panel very likely came from HR697 of No 10 Squadron, based at Melbourne, one of ten Halifaxes shot down over Cologne 28/29 June 1943. It crashed at Kaberg, north of Maastricht, and its crew consisting of P/O RH Geddes, P/O HE Cross, P/O RE Bradshaw, Sgt D Brown, F/Sgt C Entwistle, Sgt R Shannon, Sgt RS White, Sgt AW Booth, was killed. They are interred at the British cemetery in Nijmegen.
(See acquisition file for further information)
Inscription
Nuremburg
St Nazaire
Berlin
Essen
Nuremburg
Munich
Stutgart [sic]
St Nazaire
Duisburg
Berlin
Berlin
Essen
Kiel
Pilsen
Stettin
Essen
Bochum
Dortmund
Dusseldorf
Essen
Wuppertal
Bochum
Krefeld
Koln 1.27 uhr
Abschutz einer Halifax am 29 VI 1943 Lt Hager Uffz v. Bergen
(attached panel)
Type Halifax Serial No HI | 47079