The Lingering Death Of Halifax
W7677.
_________________
The Desperate Try Of A Homeward Flight.
Coming from Frankfurt, Halifax
W7677 headed toward the UK. All over the way, the fire increased!
At a given time the pilot, Sgt.
Farrell, felt that he couldn't any longer keep the aircraft flying. After
the aircraft became impossible to control, the navigator fixed the aircraft's
position as west of Luxembourg and the pilot gave the order to bale out.
At this moment the aircraft was
over the territory of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. There, the sky was
cloudless. Its position was probably somewhere over the "Napoleon's Gaart"
a hill situated about 3,2 km north east of the village Rambrouch.
4 crew members managed to bale out.
These were:
1) Sgt. F.T. Heap
2) Sgt. J.L. Griffiths
3) Sgt. F. Whitfield
4) Sgt. K.R. Wright
_________________
Rambrouch.
Rambrouch is a sleepy village, situated
in the hilly landscape of northern Luxembourg, about 45 km north west of
Luxembourg, the capital of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. It lay about
10 km east of the Belgium border and the Bastogne-Arlon road (Belgium).
Until the night of September 8-9,
1942, there was nothing to break the humdrum routine of this village, except
some minor constraints after the German occupation.
Then, the unforeseen happened! A
nightmarish apocalypse of fire and screaming metal appeared in the dark
sky over the town.
_________________
The Crash.
During this awful night, Mr. Scheeck
Martin, then a Luxembourg postman, listening-in, as he did always, the
German military telephone lines in the post office of Rambrouch. So he
got, a certain time after midnight a line, where the German military referred
to a burning British bomber that will probably pass - by Rambrouch and
will possibly fall down.
It seems that right now the aircraft
was too low to allow the remaining crew members to bale out.
Mr. Scheeck Martin:
"I listened-in the German military
telephone lines in the Rambrouch Post Office since end of May 1942 until
the end of war. Nobody, neither Luxembourg citizens nor Germans didn't
know about.
Shortly before midnight of September
8, I got by chance, a communication between the German air control in Saarbrücken
and the German custom officer in Rambrouch, informing the same about a
heavily damaged aircraft that would probably fall down. Then I camouflaged
the connected lines and left the office to the rear, where was then a park,
to go uphill under a cherry tree. This was at about 0030 hours.
I just arrived, then suddenly
a howling filled the air and then I saw the aircraft. It was very low,
about 50 meters high. I thought by myself, hopefully it will not fall on
me. The aircraft just past over me, with a severe left bank position and
trailed on the port wing flames of about 70 meter's length. (1)
The noise was terrible. (2)
As it passed behind the hills, I just heard the noise of the crash and
immediately I ran home to hide myself. This was quickly done, as our house
is just near the Post Office. (3)
Then I watched behind a window, and
a little bit later I saw a German running down the street. I didn't move,
but I thought by myself, that they will go into action right now. I couldn't
verify if somebody of the inhabitants went on the streets."
This was also witnessed by his brother
Mr. Scheeck Victor and some other local people which woke up by the noise
and the light.
Mr. Scheeck Victor:
"On September 8, I went on
visit to our friends. Their house is opposite to ours. (4)
As that night fell already in the period in which the Germans had established
a curfew and as it was late, I wasn't able to return home. So I took the
decision to sleep at my friends house.
We were all together in a room at the first floor.
Shortly after midnight, we suddenly
heard an incredible loud uproar of droning and screeching in the sky. The
noise came into our direction and got louder as it came nearer. Abruptly,
it was quiet. I thought, it's an aircraft who will fall now on the house
and we all ran down in the kitchen with the intention to protect us. (5)
As nothing happens, we went out at the rear and we heard in the western
direction an explosion. Then we saw that the sky was full of fire.
After a while, we went back
in the house and tried to sleep. Needless to say that nobody had slept
a wink all night."
The house of Mr. Clement Theo is the
last building of the village in the aircraft's path.
Mr. Clement Theo:
"As I was a child then, I can't
remember some details.
I know that on September 8,
we all went early to bed. (6)
In the middle of the night we
were woken up through an earsplitting noise. We went outside the house
and we saw fire in the sky. Then we heard the explosion of the impact of
the aircraft. We returned to bed, but we couldn't sleep anymore.
The next day, we saw that the
aircraft had burn the top of the trees beside our house and that they were
also soaked with a liquid. (7)
Some people of the village,
searching for the crash site, went to our house, as they thought that the
aircraft crashed in the valley below of us, but they were wrong."
The pilot must have still fought for
his life, as the aircraft passed the house of Mr. Clement (8)
at a height of about 30 meters, to gain some altitude to get over the hill
"Burkess" (9)
and to pass then over the hill "Réisperknapp". (10)
At the rear end of that hill the aircraft was so low that it skimmed the
top of an oak tree and lost some pieces of structure (11).
Then it crashed into the next hill, called "Buuscht", at about mid-level (12)
and blew up there, spreading its pieces over an area of about 250 meters
on 350 meters. (13)
Most of the village people, which
observed the aircraft passing over the town, heard the impact of the crash
and reported that then the "sky was full of fire", the same as was witnessed
by Mr. Pierre Kayser.
Mr. Pierre Kayser:
"As I was a young boy then,
I know only a little bit about what happened that night.
During that night, we all woke
up due to the incredible earsplitting noise. We all run on the street.
We saw that the sky was full of fire and that an aircraft fell down in
direction of Burkess.
During the morning of the next
day, some people tried to go to the crash area, but they were wrong as
they thought that the aircraft crashed in the valley near the Clement house."
(1)
Hallifax W7677 came
from north east, passing the village direction south west.
(2)
We have to imagine a combination of noise, made by four large engines running
at full power, the noise that a aircraft produces itself in the air and
the noise of the flames.
(3)
Mr. Scheeck Martin had to hide himself, as nobody had to know that he was
listening-in to the german phone lines and participating in resistance.
Also, nobody had to be seen, by the Germans, on the
streets at that time of the night.
(4)
This neighbour was at that time the tailor of the village. Opposite of
the house Scheeck is the new cemetary.The tailor's house is situated on
the right side of that cemetary.
(5)
That kitchen was situated in the lower rear part of the house, like a cellar.
(6)
Probably because no electric power was available.
(7)
It is highly probable that this liquid was oil and glycol. It have to be
noted that these trees had a height of about 20 meters.
(8)
That house is at 470 meters above sea level.
(9)
One the plane's path, the highest elevation of that hill is 483 meters
above sea level, plus the height of the trees, which was then probably
10 meters. It has to be noted that the aircraft didn't touch any of
these trees and we should not forget, that the plane was still flying with
a severe left bank.
(10)
On the plane's path, the highest elevation of that hill is 453 meters above
sea level. The trees at that time, on that place, were not higher than
about 5 meters.
(11)
The place of that tree is about 445 meters above sea level. The broken
crown of the tree is about 6 meters over ground.
(12)
The highest elevation of that hill is 508 meters above sea level. The crash
happened on the north western side of the hill, at about 445 meters above
sea level.
(13)
With the metal detector we found all over that area small pieces of aluminium
emanating from the aircraft.
[Back]
[Home] [Next]
[Crash Site Map] [Escape
Map]
This page hosted by
Get your own Free Homepage