Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

Evaders


Evader chart: E0804
SGLO Date crash Aircraft
T4288 23-09-44 Lancaster
MilRank First Name(s) Name
Sgt. Henry Harrison MacFarlane
Milregnr. Nationality Born
1822135 British Cambusbarron, Stirling, Scotland, 25 Apr 1925
Returned Y/N Evader Fate Date Captured/Liberated Place Captured/Liberated Escape Line
Yes EVD 1 Apr 45 Zelhem -
Evader Story
						Sgt. Henry Harrison (Harry) MacFarlane was the flight engineer of Lancaster ME700. The bomber was shot down in the night of 23/24 September 1944 during a raid to breach the Dortmund-Eems Canal at Ladbergen, north of Münster. MacFarlane's Lancaster crashed near Welsum, close to the town of Dalfsen. Six crewmembers died in the the crash. Three others, among whom MacFarlane, survived and managed to evade capture. MacFarlane landed close to the bomb aimer, F/O. Charles D. Lucas (E0804) and the two found a hiding place in the house 'Vechthorst' of Family Ben and Annie de Haan near Oudleusen. De Haan, a policeman, hid the two airmen in a boat house near the weir in the Vecht River. They would hide here until the end of October 1944. Via hiding addresses in Zwolle they ended up on a boat, tucked away in the reed, in a sidearm close to the mouth of the Vecht River. This sidearm connected the Zwartewater with the Genneger Zijl. The boat was used by resistance group 'De Groene' from Henk Beernink. It was a hiding place for Dutchmen who were on the run, but also for Allied airmen. The boat was managed by a teacher from Rotterdam: Piet Stil (also known as Piet Boot). Lucas and MacFarlane hid here for several weeks in the winter of 1944/1945. They returned they had to sleep on straw. In this hide out the two met the other surviving crew member again: F/Lt. O.G. Korpela (E0802). From this moment they would stay together. In February 1945 the three were transferred to Aalten. After a failed attempt to cross the Rhine River near Lobith with two others - F/Lt. Marie Joseph Anatole Côté (E0927) and 2/Lt. Richard P. Fuller (E0913), these five airmen ended up at Zelhem where they came in the hands of Ale Jorritsma at E 208 in Zelhem. in the following weeks the five moved - sometimes together, sometimes in twos or threes - to several addresses in the village. Joh. H. Reussink (NAID: 286682950) wrote after the war a detailed report about the whereabouts of the five in the ultimate weeks before the liberation. The five were joined in this period by two other airmen: 1/Lt. J.R. Stevens (E0904) and 2/Lt. S.E. Johnston (E0901). They hid in this period with family J.H. Reussink (Palmberg A 147 at Zelhem), family Ale Jorritsma (E 208 at Zelhem), E.J. Oosterink (A160 at Zelhem), family A. Rijnders (B-102 at Zelhem), family Berkelder (A228 in Zelhem), Joh Buunk (Zelhem), familyu Hemink (Meene at Zelhem) and family Brekveld (Ruurlooscheweg at Zelhem). Stevens and Johnston left in the last days before the libeartion for Winterswijk, but the other five - Côté, Lucas, McFarlane, Fuller and Korpela - were liberated in Zelhem on 1 April 1945. Via Eindhoven they returned by Dakota to England. 




						
Source(s)
* J.F. Sievers, ‘Ze kwamen tijdens de oorlog neer in Dalfsen’, in: Rondom Dalfsen, nr 31 (Historische Kring Dalfsen), page [numbers].
* Jaap Tempelman, 'Bomber Pilot Oliver Korpela' in: Rondom Dalfsen, nr. 43 (Historische Kring Dalfsen), page 897-902