Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						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 the three ended up in Zelhem. After hiding at several addresses, probably with the Family Berkelder in Zelhem and Family Ale Jorritsma at E 208 in Zelhem, they moved during the last weeks of the war to the house of Family Evert-Jan or Evert-Willem Oosterink at A160 in Zelhem or Stationstraat A 40 in Zelhem. They hid here in a room above the store of the Oosterink's. On 1 April Korpela, Lucas and MacFarlane were liberated when Canadian troops reached the town. Via Eindhoven they returned by Dakota to England.