The McQueen crew - 52, also members of the `Goldfish Club`

McQueen Crew 52

L to R (facing interrogators)

F/O Lee Shaw (2nd Dickey?), F/Sgt W. McQueen, W. G. Pearcey RAF, F/Sgt C.T. Beech, Sgt Michael Habiluk, F/O D.F. McAllistar, A. Warrington? RAF, and F/Sgt Alan Kingston.

Some crews took longer to get home for debriefing than others. Crew #52 ditched their Halifax in the North Sea while returning home from a raid on Leipzig. Rescued by the navy, they were given dry rubber boots, old flannel slacks and sweaters.  After three days they made it back to Tholthorpe, rumpled and weary, but not looking much like the "pirates, thugs, and brigands" that Lord Haw Haw described as belonging to the squadron.

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“… an exclusive club for Airmen who had survived a wartime aircraft ditching and who owed their lives to the successful use of the Mae West inflatable life preserver, a rubber dinghy, other type life raft. etc. The Goldfish Club Badge shows a white-winged goldfish flying over two symbolic blue waves. The name Goldfish was selected with gold for the value of life and fish for the sea…”

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On 16/17 June 1944 this crew (minus F/O L. Shaw) flying a Halifax III, serial # LK-792, coded WL-N, flew to Sterkrade, Germany on a bombing raid. They "FTR" and all were killed.

(F/Sgt Alan Kingston's Nephew - Darrin Kingston is currently researching this crew)

Courtesy CFJIC PL - 22526

The crash area of the McQeen crew

The Netherlands

The crash location is now recognized as a Nature Reserve, the landscape is forest and sand dunes. In the foreground is a bare spot indicating the crash location of LK-792.

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The following letter is from Mr. D.J. Boeve (an undertaker and witness to events on 16/17 June 1944) written to Mrs. Pearcey the mother of W.G. Pearcey dated 4th Jan. 1947.

"Dear Mrs. Pearcy,

Lately I was visited by Albert Eikelboom, who asked me in the name of you, if we perhaps had taken care of the funeral of your son W.G. Pearcy.

Indeed I could confirm this question.

Certainly you will appreciate to hear something about the tragic accident, in consequence of which your son lost his life.

Before writing down all I can remember about this accident, I condole with you on the loss of your beloved son. May it be your consolation to know that our nation will always commemorate those Englishmen, who gave their lives for the liberation also of our country.

When I open my daybook, I read:..."

continued next photo.. 

Mr. Olsboom kneeling at crash site.

Mr. Olsboom sifting through soil at the crash site of Halifax LK-792 “WL-N”.

Photo courtesy Ben Zonnenberg via Darrin Kingston

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Letter continued

"...I read:

In the night of 16/17th June 1944 at 1.15 o’clock air-alarm was given in Ede. Many Allied aeroplanes were passing Ede. At 1.37 o’clock the signal “all safe” was given. After this the aeroplanes were still passing and during that we heard again and again the sound of shooting cannons and machine guns. Suddenly at about 2.15 o’clock in the night a dreadful noise. An aeroplane went very lowly over our house, we did not know if it was an English or German aeroplane.

An acquaintance of mine told me afterwards: I was standing on the roof of my house and was listening to and looking at the Allied aeroplanes which came from Germany and were flying westward. All at once I heard a German fighter emitting fire on an Allied bomber, which was flying about 2500 meters high above the “Driesprong” (2 kilometers north of Ede). Suddenly I saw that the bomber fell down burning and hardly perpendicularly. When the bomber was near the ground, the pilot tried to ascend something, but it was of no avail and the machine fell down on the heath near the “Driesprong”. During some time after this, the environment was enlightened by the fire of the burning petrol"

continued next photo

Halifax aircraft pieces

Shifting soil reveals aircraft pieces

One characteristic of this area is the constant shifting of soil which has a tendency to reveal artifacts from many years ago, one of the reasons that so much of the plane is found. Ben Zonnenberg (photographer/researcher) located these aircraft pieces in the area.

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Letter continued

"In the afternoon of Saturday the 17th, I, and two of my sons (now 22 and 18 years old) after having received a telephone of the Dutch police, went with a carriage with 2 horses to the spot, where the aeroplane came down.

When we arrived there we saw some Germans walking among the scattered parts of the aeroplane. I told them what we intended, we got permission and began with our work. Near the cockpit we found 2 or 3 of the victims. The other flyers were laying rather scattered on the heath. Only one of the victims was laying in the neighbouring wood (this was C. Beech). He was dressed in yellow overall. The others were dressed in grey uniform. If I remember well, the commander of the machine was laying near the cockpit, but I cannot say this was surety. All the victims were laying on their back on the ground, but none of them had been burnt. Only some were damaged in their heads in a small measure. Further I did not see any wounds. Also the uniforms were all right. We laid them with great carefulness in the coffins, which we had taken with us. On the pulse of each flyer the Germans had fastened small pieces of carton on which they had written the names. My eldest son wrote the names and the numbers of the flyers on the cover of the coffins.

At the moment 6 flyers were known and 1 unknown, namely: -

C. Beech, R145504

W.G. Pearcey, 1850875

M.C. Allister, R157914

P.A. Kingston, J85533

McQueen, J19843

A. Warrington, 1532513

and 1 unknown"

Continued next photo

Mr. Olsboom an eyewitness to crash

Eyewitness and a Forest Ranger assist in locating LK-792

On the left you see Mr. Evert Arendsen, he was a Forest ranger and spent a lot of time in the area where the plane crashed. Mr. Olsboom on the right was 14 years of age in June 1944 and witnessed the descent and crash of Halifax LK-792 “WL-N”.

Photo courtesy Ben Zonnenberg via Darrin Kingston

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Letter continued 

"We could not discover possession of the victims and I suppose that they must have been stolen by the Germans (that was usual among the Germans). After closing them, we bore the coffins to the path along the heath and put them on the carriage which was standing there. Then the Germans said that my youngest son had to go to the wing of the machine to remove the number plate of the aeroplane. He did so and the Germans kept the plate. After that we drove to the cemetery at Ede and put the seven coffins in the bier-house for the present till the day of burial.

The seven flyers have been buried on the cemetery at Ede, on Monday 19th of June 1944. The funeral happened respectfully and in all silence. No German was present, only my pallbearers and I. A grave had been digged and the 7 victims were interred there beside each other.

This is all I can remember. I enclose a photo of the Allied graves on the cemetery at Ede. Perhaps you will appreciate that.

I remain, (sgnd) D.J. Boeve."