1942-05-08-Loss of Hudson V8981 (Vos)

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1942-05-08 The loss of Hudson V8981 NO-M (Vos)

Crash site: North Sea 30 km West of Texel, NL

Crash cause: shot down by enemy nightfighter

Name	1. Vos, Herman Anna Petrus					Dutch RAF aviator datasheet

H.A.P. Vos Source: @St.M.Vl.P. 1939-50

Rank	Res Sgt Vl, Pilot				Stb.Nr. 21077
Decorations	None known
Born	4/6/1918	Place	Roosendaal, NL
Squadron	RAF 320 (Dutch) Sqn Coastal Command				Ops/hrs	4/11
Aircraft	Hudson Mk. IIIa Nr. V8981 'Soerabaja'
Base	RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk, GB
Mission	Nomad patrol to Waddeneilanden, NL, of eight 320 Sqn Hudsons
Status	MIA, shot down by enemy nightfighter at 03:54h				age	23
Missing	8/5/1942	Place	North Sea 30 km West of the Isle of Texel, German Quadrant 4484, at 04.51h. Source: German Abschussliste, via Hans Nauta
Known to	OGS	yes	CWGC	no
Other crew	2. Sgt Vl W.G.J. Jansen, Pilot - MIA 3. Vltg Telegr Maat B. Koehl, Wop/Ag - MIA 4. Korp Mariniers K. van Klaveren, Ag - MIA
Memorial	Soesterberg	yes
Memorial	Other	yes	Bircham Newton General Memorial
GB arrival	Send from England to NEI 1/9/1940 for military flying training
Remarks	Shot down by Obltn. Leopold Fellerer with Me.110 from 5./NJG2. See Kracker Luftwaffe Archive on this site His name is not on the Bevrijdingsmonument, Parklaan, Roosendaal, carrying the names of Roosendaal casualties of WW2
Data confusion	OGS: shot down North Sea near Borkum

Name	2. Jansen, Wilhelmus Gijsbertus Joannes					Dutch RAF aviator datasheet



Rank	Sgt Vl, Sgt., Pilot				Stb.Nr. 15658
Decorations	None known
Born	23/11/1915	Place	De Bilt, NL
Squadron	RAF 320 (Dutch) Sqn Coastal Command				Ops/hrs
Aircraft	Hudson Mk. IIIa Nr. V8981 'Soerabaja'
Base	RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk, GB
Mission	Nomad patrol to Waddeneilanden, NL, of eight 320 Sqn Hudsons
Status	MIA, shot down by enemy nightfighter at 03:54h				age	26
Missing	8/5/1942	Place	North Sea 30 km West of the Isle of Texel, German Quadrant 4484, at 04.51h. Source: German Abschussliste, via Hans Nauta
Known to	OGS	yes	CWGC	no
Other crew	1. Res Sgt Vl H.A.P. Vos, Pilot - MIA 3. Vltg Telegr Maat B. Koehl, Wop/Ag - MIA 4. Korp Mariniers K. van Klaveren, Ag - MIA
Memorial	Soesterberg	yes
Memorial	Other	yes	Bircham Newton General Memorial
GB arrival
Remarks	Shot down by Obltn. Leopold Fellerer with Me.110 from 5./NJG2
Data confusion	1. OGS: shot down North Sea near Dutch coast 2. Geldhof (3): his death is reported in the German Totenliste Nr. 79, indicating that his body was found, but a place & date of burial is not mentioned

Name	3. Koehl, Bertus					Dutch RAF aviator datasheet



Rank	Vltg Telegr maat, Lac., Wop/Ag				Stb.Nr. 20451
Decorations	None known
Born	11/6/1918	Place	Semarang, Java, NEI
Squadron	RAF 320 (Dutch) Sqn Coastal Command				Ops/hrs
Aircraft	Hudson Mk. IIIa Nr. V8981 'Soerabaja'
Base	RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk, GB
Mission	Nomad patrol to Waddeneilanden, NL, of eight 320 Sqn Hudsons
Status	MIA, shot down by enemy nightfighter at 03:54h				age	23
Missing	8/5/1942	Place	North Sea 30 km West of the Isle of Texel, German Quadrant 4484, at 04.51h. Source: German Abschussliste, via Hans Nauta
Known to	OGS	yes	CWGC	no
Other crew	1. Res Sgt Vl H.A.P. Vos, Pilot - MIA 2. Sgt Vl W.G.J. Jansen, Pilot - MIA 4. Korp Mariniers K. van Klaveren, Ag - MIA
Memorial	Soesterberg	yes
Memorial	Other	yes	Bircham Newton General Memorial
GB arrival
Remarks	Shot down by Obltn. Leopold Fellerer with Me.110 from 5./NJG2
Data confusion	1. OGS: shot down North Sea off Dutch shore 2. Geldhof (3): his death is reported in the German Totenliste Nr. 79, indicating that his body was found, but a place & date of burial is not mentioned

Name	4. Klaveren, Krijn van					Dutch RAF aviator datasheet

K. van Klaveren Source: @St.M.Vl.P. 1939-50

Rank	Korp Mariniers, Cpl., Ag				Stb.Nr. M.4906
Decorations	None known
Born	16/10/1915	Place	Nieuwer Amstel, NL
Squadron	RAF 320 (Dutch) Sqn Coastal Command				Ops/hrs
Aircraft	Hudson Mk. IIIa Nr. V8981 'Soerabaja'
Base	RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk, GB
Mission	Nomad patrol to Waddeneilanden, NL, of eight 320 Sqn Hudsons
Status	MIA, shot down by enemy nightfighter at 03:54h				age	26
Missing	8/5/1942	Place	North Sea 30 km West of the Isle of Texel, German Quadrant 4484, at 04.51h. Source: German Abschussliste, via Hans Nauta
Known to	OGS	yes	CWGC	no
Other crew	1. Res Sgt Vl H.A.P. Vos, Pilot - MIA 2. Sgt Vl W.G.J. Jansen, Pilot - MIA 3. Vltg Telegr Maat B. Koehl, Wop/Ag - MIA
Memorial	Soesterberg	yes
Memorial	Other	yes	Bircham Newton General Memorial
GB arrival
Remarks	Shot down by Obltn. Leopold Fellerer with Me.110 from 5./NJG2
Data confusion	1. OGS: died North Sea on board aircraft 2. Geldhof (3): his death is reported in the German Totenliste Nr. 79; his body supposedly washed ashore on 8/5/1942 near Breezand, Noord Holland, NL, but a place & date of burial are not mentioned. It seems unlikely that a body would travel the 40 km from the crash area to Breezand in one day. This could mean that Cpl. Van Klaveren baled out of the aircraft. In any case, we have no burials of unknown RAF airmen in the Breezand area, that could be a match for this loss.

If the German Totenliste Nr. 79, mentioned by Nico Geldhof (3) is accurate about the name Van Klaveren, a name the Germans could hardly have invented, then we have a number of graves of unknown RAF airmen, whose bodies washed ashore in Noord-Holland in the days and weeks after 8/5/1942. Many of these are still buried in the place of initial burial; some were relocated later to concentration cemeteries in The Netherlands. The nearest cemetery with candidate graves is in Bergen, Noord-Holland. At this point, we have insufficient data to connect any of these graves with the loss of Sgt. W.G.J. Jansen, Lac. B. Koehl and/or Cpl. K. van Klaveren.

22-06-1942	RAF	F/O.	Bergen (NH)	NL
25-06-1942	RAF	P/O.	Bergen (NH)	NL
07-07-1942	RAF	unkn	Bergen (NH)	NL
13-07-1942	RAF	unkn	Bergen (NH)	NL
13-07-1942	RAF	Sgt.	Bergen (NH)	NL
23-07-1942	RAF	unkn	Bergen (NH)	NL
23-07-1942	RAF	unkn	Bergen (NH)	NL
14-09-1942	RAF	unkn	Bergen (NH)	NL
16-10-1942	RAF	P/O.	Bergen (NH)	NL
21-10-1942	RAF	Sgt.	Bergen (NH)	NL

Table 10. Burials of unknown RAF airmen in Bergen, Noord-Holland, in days to weeks after the loss of Hudson V8981

Map 20. North Sea, crash area of Hudson V8981 NO-M (Vos) The blue dot marks the area where, according to the German Totenliste Nr. 79, the body of Cpl. Krijn van Klaveren washed ashore on the same day as Hudson V8981 was lost. If washed ashore at all, then bodies in this North Sea area would wash ashore Northeast of the crash site. See Chapter 10.5, 'About bodies washing ashore'. But it is very unlikely that a body would travel this linear distance of about 90 km in one day only. Cpl. Van Klaveren may be buried in Holland as an unknown RAF aviator, but we do not have the data that would enable us to say any more than this.

Kennermerduinen, near the erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal where 372 Dutch resistance fighters are buried, looking towards the North Sea section where Hudson V8981 was lost. Kennemerduinen 070502-12

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