Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

Monuments


Monument chart: M0058
Monument Name T/R Number
Monument Hampden AT248 T1668
Date unveiling Street City Zipcode Province
July 3, 2012 Tjalke van der Walstraat 31 Koudum 8723 Friesland
Description 
An information panel, placed on an aluminum frame. The information panel gives the story of the crash and the crew of the RAF Hampden AT248.
History 
The monument reminds the residents of Koudum that an English Hampden tree thrower had crashed on the site where 'the Finke' residential care center is now located. The Hampden AT248 had taken off in England on 3 July 1942 for a bombing mission on the industrial city of Bremen. The plane would never reach that place. Above the Frisian Southwest corner, the bomber was hit by Oblt E. Prinz zur Lippe-Weissenfeld of 5./NJG 2. 3 crew members were killed. The Canadian F/Lt. K.E. Brown managed to leave the crashing plane in time with a parachute and was hardly injured. On the ground he fell into the hands of the Germans who imprisoned him in the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III in Silesia. Brown survived the hardships and returned to his homeland. after the war. In 1989 he described his experiences in the book Bonds of Wire.