Information sought on Harborough pilot who died when his plane crashed in the Netherlands during Second World War

An author is looking for information about a Harborough pilot who died in a plane crash in the Netherlands during the Second World War.

Bartel van Yperenburg said on Sunday January 3 1943 at 8.15pm a Lancaster Bomber was shot by a German fighter pilot and crashed in his hometown of Velp.

On board the plane were four British men and three Canadians. Among them was pilot Douglas Herbert Scott Lonsdale who was 31-years-old and the most experienced on board having already carried out a tour in Italy. He was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

The youngest member of the crew was just 20-years-old.

Due to bad weather the team of seven men had waited for three days for the doomed flight to Essen, where their task was to mark factories for bombing. It was the Lancaster’s maiden voyage, flying from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

Following the crash the men were buried at Heiderust Cemetery in Rheuden. It is understood no public were allowed at the service.

Bartel is now looking to write a book about the crash, but also wants to play tribute to the crew by placing a memorial to them at the site.

He told the Mail he wanted to know more about what happened and began planning to write a book after discovering the incident happened close to his home.

Bartel said: “I was cleaning and a book by Steven Jansen called ‘Velp and the War’, which was written in 1946, fell open on a page where the plane crash was briefly described. The aircraft came down where I walk my dog Woody every day, but there is nothing there that reminds me of the plane crashing. Other locals I’ve spoken to didn’t know about it either.

“It would be nice if we could pay a little more credit to the seven occupants of the Lancaster W4840. I would like to see a monument. By writing my book I also want to honour the boys.

"Where have the remains of the plane gone? Steven Jansen describes in his book how ‘a dense crowd of people’ went to the scene of the disaster and took parts of the Lancaster with them as ‘souvenir hunters’.

"And people may have been involved in the funeral at Heiderust, although the German occupier did not allow anyone to be there at the time.”

Bartel says he has already discovered some details about the battle above Velp by looking through archives, and has also found out some information about the pilot’s family, who hailed from Market Harborough.

Douglas was married to Patricia Westcott Lonsdale (née Laurie), of Westham, Sussex. They married in July 1941 in Battle, Sussex.

He was the son of Herbert Morris Lonsdale and Ethel Maud Lonsdale (nee Hallewell). Ethel died in December 1914 in Market Harborough and Herbert, who was a special constable, remarried in 1925 to Phillis Rennie Robinson. They lived in Northampton Road.

Douglas had been a pupil at Brighton College and is listed on its roll of honour. He had been a house prefect in 1928. In 1939 he was a technical assistant in hydraulic engineering. When he was killed his wife Patricia was living in Doddington Road, Lincoln.

Bartel’s search for information has so far led to him speaking to people in the Netherlands about the event, including one 90-year-old eyewitness who was there when the plane came down.

And Bartel says despite the crash happening some 80 years ago, he does not believe it is too late to try and unearth what happened.

He said: “It’s almost too late, but it is not yet too late. And finding out about this won’t let go of me. I have a model of a Lancaster on my desk. I put it there to remind me, but I don’t have to. Just thinking about how the crew must have been in that plane, a tail gunner all alone in the icy cold up there. That’s enough for me to want to know their story.”

Bartel is hopeful a monument could be installed in memory of the men, as one has been erected elsewhere for a bomber which crashed there.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bartel by emailing or calling +31263840144.

Excerpt from 'Velp and the War' by Steven Jansen

'It is Sunday evening, January 3, 1943, 8 o'clock. We are lured outside by the drone of aircraft engines. A flaming star falls from the sky. Screaming, he approaches, leaving a fiery trail across the dark sky. A hit!

And fiercely the silhouettes of houses and trees stand out against the by a huge fire. A plane has crashed. At Billion.

A dense crowd of people goes to the scene of the disaster. Krauts are also rushing. Searching with difficulty over the broken suspension travel. Always sinking into the mud. What is it? A German?

Spooky light

Ghostly the flames illuminate the moving figures around the wreck. The meadow is littered with debris. Souvenir hunters know their way around it.

It's a British plane. The bodies of 7 occupants are recovered. The interment will take place at Heiderust. By order of the Germans, no public may be admitted.

Seven crosses, to the right of the entrance, indicate the place where seven fighters for justice and justice found a final resting place. A simple stone gives an account of what happened in a few words:

HERE REST

THE CREW OF A BRITISH FIGHTER PLANE

CRASHED IN VELP 3 JANUARY 1943 ON 'OVERHAGENSCH WEIDE'

BURIED 7 JANUARY 1943

And again and again there are caring hands, who provide the graves with flowers.'