Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

The Lancaster monuent is an information panel, placed on the edge of a bridge over route N359. It tells the story of the crash of the RAF Lancaster W4888 and it's crew.

The panel commemorates the fate of a British Lancaster bomber that  fell victim to a German nightfighter in the night of 4/5 May 1943 after it was intercepted by enemy nightfighters over the IJsselmeer. The bomber was returning from a large-scale air raid on the German industrial city of Dortmund.  It had taken off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor airfield, home base of 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, in a formation of nearly six hundred other aircraft.  After being hit the ship caught fire and before it could execute an emergency landing, it exploded. Six of the seven crew members were killed in the crash. They were buried May 7 at the General Cemetery of Workum at the Spoardyk . A small detachment of German soldiers of the Hafenüberwachung Workum gave a military salute at the former orphanage of Workum, where the corpses had been placed on biers. Their names are on the panel. Navigator Ralph Duncan Paterson could bail out, with burn wounds on hands, knees and face. Taken hostage as prisoner of war, first aid was given by the local doctor and after recovery in several hospitals he evetually winded up in Stalag Luft III, and returned to Britain after liberation.