Visiting a Crash Site: TS526: a B24 Liberator of 223 Squadron, Oulton

 

 

My uncle, Leonard Vowler, was in TS526, a B24 Liberator of 223 Squadron based at RAF Oulton.  

 

They were shot down on the night of the 20/21st March 1945.

 

It would appear that they were shot down by a German Messersmitt 110 using upward firing cannons. All the pilot had to do was get under the aircraft and shoot upwards. He would have a good view as he was looking up into a lighter area. The crew would not have a clear view as they were looking down into darkness. The air gunners did see the plane but could not deflect their guns down far enough. The plane went down. The pilot managed to gain control of the plane and levelled it out. The crew then ejected any spare equipment to lighten the load.  

 

My Uncle was seen to leave the plane via the escape hatch by Cole, who was a Special Radio Operator. The plane was too low and he was found hanging in the trees. The plane crashed into a wood on the top of a hill and was on fire. Cole came to and found the Jostle jamming set on top of him. Local people attended and got him out. He was then taken down the hill on a cart and was placed in a building. Later he was moved to a Nunnery where it was discovered that he had a broken back and he was handed over to the authorities. The rest of the crew were then buried in a small cemetery at Buhla. The German's put a picket fence around the graves and put a cross on the site. Around 1949 it was decided that the crew would be re-interred in Hanover.  

 

I visited the graves in the well kept War Graves Commission site. But my ambition was to actually visit the crash site. Having been to Hanover on several occasions on an exchange visit, my hosts were never in a position to assist me. In October 2007, finally I made it, and my German Police friends took me to the site.

 

On the way down to Wofhagen, which is near Kassell; it was foggy. I wondered if it be clear on the hill I was to visit.

 

In the centre of Wolfhagen, I met my helpers for the day. Hans Adler, Hans Hahn, Ingo Jung and Herr Klinkhart. The convoy of vehicles set of to the site. We parked near the Schloss that Cole had been in.

 

By now the sun had come out. What a brilliant day! Then off along a lane into the wood, we started to go uphill. As we went, Herr Adler using his metal detector was finding parts of the plane. It surprised me to still be able to find plane parts. The site had been visited on numerous occasions by others. At the summit of the hill it was a scene of devastation. There had been gale force winds which had knocked down numerous trees. Some had been cut up and removed and a lot of branches were lying around. I was looking for a tree with an engraving with the date 1948 which was when the major parts of the plane were removed. However, no trace of the tree was found. Damage to the trees where the plane had hit them was pointed out to me, and there was a photograph taken some years ago. This showed a clearing with grass in it. In this area no trees had grown since the crash. While searching we found an area where there was plexi glass, this was a good indication of the correct area.

 

 

Photographs were then taken with all of us. I was holding a Union Jack flag and one of the others was holding the German flag.

 

It was a proud moment for me to be actually at the site of the crash after 62 years. I left a notice with the crew list pinned to a tree trunk, together with a single rose. The other poignant moment for me was in this clearing having a quiet moment of reflection. The beech leaves were falling slowly down as in the Royal Albert Hall at the end of the evening when the poppy leaves float down - remembering how many others had made the ultimate sacrifice so we could be there that day.

 

When we arrived back at the cars, Hans Adler presented me with two carrier bags full of parts from the plane that he had collected. I was deeply moved by this offer. However, as I was flying back to England, I could not take them with me. I took some small parts as mementos. We then went on to Buhla to visit the first burial site. This cemetery was very well kept. Being just down the other side of the hill from where they had crashed.

 

My grateful thanks go to everyone who made this possible. My everlasting gratitude is to Richard Forder, for his research and the introduction to the German Guides.

 

 

by Rod Vowler

 

 

This article is from the Spring 2008 issue of Confound and Destroy