Flight Sergeant W. Orange: Piet Snellen
The memorial: Piet Snellen
The memorial: Piet Snellen
The memorial: Piet Snellen
The cemetery: Piet Snellen
Simon Glancey has provided the following:
"I did find him on a family tree on ancestry.co.uk. That gives his date of birth as March 27th 1915, and lists his parents as Robert Orange and Susan, nee Sharpe. His birth was registered in the Morpeth district, which includes Bedlington. No sign of an additional Christian name."
Flight Sergeant Orange was serving with 149 Squadron. He was a crew member of Stirling I B9167 OJ-N which took off from Lakenheath on a mission to Krefeld. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War: 1942; W.R. Chorley; 1994; Midland Counties Publications; ISBN 0 904597 89 X
Piet Snellen has submitted the following:
At the moment I am gathering information about the crash of the Short Stirling R9167 with code nr. OJ-N.
This aircraft crashed on October 2nd some 500 metres away from the house where I was born and have lived for 66 years.
This is the story:
On October 2, 1942 a four-engine British bomber crashed on a plot of farmland owned by the Pijpers family along a road called Bedelaarspad to Kronenberg (municipality Sevenum). All seven crew members died in the crash. The bomber (Type Short Stirling Mk1 R9167 with code OJ-N) was on its way from RAF Lakenheath to Krefeld in Germany when it was shot down by a German night fighter. The plane had incendiary bombs on board and has burned for days. Local residents rushed immediately after the crash to the wreck, and found the corpses of some crew members. Moments later it was discovered that one was still alive. He lay severely wounded in the field and pointed constantly to the ring on his left ring finger which was already swollen. One of the spectators managed to get the ring off of his finger. Soon afterwards the Germans appeared and forced the people back. The unknown soldier died before he could be transported to hospital in Venlo. After the war the names of the crew members were found. The only one who was still alive after the crash of the Stirling proved to be Sergeant E. L. Moore (tail gunner). The ring was sent shortly after the liberation to his family. The crew was temporarily buried in Venlo but were all reburied in 1947 at 'Jonkerbos' in Nijmegen. On the site of the crash a respirator was found in good condition in 1979.
Source: Kronenberg 75 Levend dorp by Heemkundevereiging Sevenum NL
Crew of the Short Stirling R9167 (Code OJ-N)
149 Squadron A.F.C. R.A.F.
1 Squadron Leader Pilot: William Roy Greenslade, R.A.F. (DFC-AFC-MiD)
(Youngstown Alberta, Canada) Age 29,
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.3 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
2 Flight Sergeant Air Gunner: William Orange, R.A.F.
(Bedlington Morpeth) Age 27,
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.8 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
3 Sergeant Flight Engineer: Marshal Kenneth Smith R.A.F.
(Cambridge) Age 21
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.6 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
4 Sergeant Wireless Op./Air Gunner: Frederick Leonard Hughes R.A.F.
(Shoreditch, London) Age 21
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.7 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
5 Sergeant Wireless Op./Air Gunner: Ernest Leslie Moore R.A.F.
(Leicester) Age 20
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.4 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
6 Sergeant Air Gunner: Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith R.A.F.
(Prestwick Lancashire) Age 22
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.5 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
7 Flight Sergeant Air Observer Robert Francis McIntyre R.C.A.F.
(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Age 25
Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.9 Nijmegen-The Netherlands
On the spot of the crash a memorial will be revealed in honour of and in memory of the crew on October 7th of this year. This memorial is a gift of the community of Kronenberg.
I hope that my information is useful to you.
On 17th October 2017 Piet Snellen updated the story:
On October 7th the memorial was unveiled in Kronenberg -The Netherlands as a tribute to the crew of Short Stirling R9167 with code OJ-N, which crashed there on October 2nd 1942 after being shot down by a German night hunter from 1 Nachtjagdgeschwader Venlo. Some 14 family members of the crew were at present at the unveiling, amongst them two family members of William Orange. The ceremony was attended by many residents of Kronenberg and surrounding communities. These British and Canadian heroes became our heroes too. We enclosed them in our hearts and will never forget them because they sacrificed their lives for our freedom. It was an emotional day for all of us and for everyone who attended the unveiling. The crew’s families became family of us.
The 10-foot high cylinder has been made of corten steel and represents the shape of a a bomb on which the silhouette of the Short Stirling balances. When you go into the cylinder you look out over the spot where the Stirling crashed in 1942. Looking upwards in the cylinder you see the names of the crew members lasered in the body of the Stirling’s silhouette. Against the wall the sculptor made a rose of aluminum remains of the crashed airplane with petals falling down. These petals express the sadness of the loss of so many young lives. The monument was designed by artist/art painter/sculptor Ruud van der Beele.
I send you some photos of the unveiling along and want to say thank you for bringing me in contact with Mary and Dave.They have been of great help to me.
(Mary Ghrist is from the Stirling Aircraft Society)
Piet Snellen has sent some photos from the ceremony and also of the Stirling aircraft in which the crew died. These have been uploaded as a document below.
Tony Hibberd has sent in the following:
Stirling R9167 OJ-N had departed Lakenheath at 1906 for Ops Krefeld. It was intercepted at 3400M, 3km SW of Sevenum, NW of Venlo by a Night-Fighter captained by Oblt Hans-Dieter Frank (II/NJG1) and shot down at 2134 for his 10th Abschuss
Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years Part 3 Dr Theo Boiten
William Orange is remembered in Bedlington on B15.02, B15.08, B15.13 and in Choppington on C36.01
The Unveiling ceremony in 2017
The CWGC entry for Flight Sergeant Orange
