Bomber wreckage identified: “A unique find”

It took quite some time, but after a thorough investigation it is known where the wreckage, which washed up on the beach of Camperduin after storm Eunice, came from. It turns out to be the remains of a Short Stirling MK1 from the Second World War. In the meantime, Martijn Visser of the Egmond ’40-’45 Foundation has also contacted one of the relatives of a crew member. “He was flabbergasted and very grateful,” says Visser.

The wreckage was found in a broken fishing net by a beach finder. He immediately saw that the parts had to come from an airplane. When Martijn Visser of the Egmond Foundation ’40-’45 saw the find, he could hardly believe his eyes. “Often small pieces wash up, but such a large part as now is really unique. To hold that in your hands after it has been on the seabed for eighty years is amazing.”

fighter plane

Visser went to investigate and, among other things, came to the former Deelen airfield, where the only remaining hull of a Short Stirling can still be seen in the museum. By comparing, the men quickly learned that the remains are of the same type of fighter plane. “A total of three Stirlings have crashed off our coast, two near Bergen aan Zee and one near Camperduin. We are 80 percent sure that the wreckage came from the latter. Usually these parts wash up right off the coast. .”

It would be the Shorts Stirling BF396 that was shot down by a German night fighter in the night of December 17 in 1942. All eight crew members did not survive. “That while they were actually almost home. When you reached the Dutch coast, you were already pretty safe. They called the area between Castricum and Egmond aan Zee ‘the Gap’ because there was little anti-aircraft artillery there.”

Text continues after photo

The eight crew members never returned home alone. “There were five crew members who flew this aircraft for the first time. They said goodbye and never came back, which is of course dramatic.” One of them was 22-year-old Sergeant Thomas Padden. Visser contacted a grandson to tell about the find. “He was totally flabbergasted And also thankful that we figured this all out.”

The debris will get a place in the bunker museum from April Jansje Schong in Egmond aan Zee. Visser thinks that the relatives of the device will also come by. “They really appreciate that we want to tell their grandfather’s story in the museum. This dramatic history will not be lost in this way.”

ttn-55