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25/26 July, 1944; STUTTGART: This was the
second in a series of three heavy raids on Stuttgart in five
nights. The force, consisting of 550 Lancasters and Halifaxes
included 14 aircraft from Fiskerton.
The following article in a French newspaper some fifty years
later sheds some light on the fate of F/O Walter Buchanan and
his crew:
A VILLAGE IN FRANCE
'Over fifty years ago, on 26th July 1944, a 49 Squadron Lancaster
bomber was returning from a raid on Stuttgart and, according
to eye-witnesses, appeared to try to make an emergency landing.
The aircraft crashed into a wood near the village of Coignieres
in northern France, killing all seven of the crew. The mayor
at the time gathered together a seach party and went to the crash
site with the aim of retrieving the bodies, and thus preventing
the Germans from having access to them. Despite warnings from
the Germans that the bodies should be buried where they fell,
they were brought back to the village.The mayor, M Godot, requisitioned
seven coffins and a burial service took place, conducted by
the village priest. A large crowd attended, including many from
other villages.
Word had got around, despite the fact that the Germans were in
occupation. A memorial was erected and the Tricolour flown, again
in defiance of German regulations. Immediately after the funeral
the Germans called at the mayor's house to demand the location
of the crash site. Inside the house were the dignitaries from
local villages who had taken part in the funeral ceremony. Whilst
the mayor was trying to convince the Germans that nothing unusual
was going on, and indicating very approximately the area of the
crash on a map, his daughter secretly left the house to remove
as many of the wreaths and flags as possible from the graves
and the memorial. Fortunately the Germans did not leave by the
town square, otherwise they could have seen the remains of the
decorations. The villagers took great risks in retrieving the
bodies and burying them with honour, and had they been found
out would have suffered the consequences.
Lancaster PB250 (EA-J)
F/O W.J.F. Buchanan Pilot
(Killed)
Sgt A. Ashby
F/E (Killed)
F/S P.M.
Kitto NAV (Killed)
Sgt G.W.
Picker W/OP (Killed)
Sgt C.J.
Crane A/G (Killed)
F/S
E. Shackleton B/A (Killed)
Sgt E. Greenwood A/G (Killed)
Crew on their 9th operation
There
is memorial to the crew near to the cemetery in Coignieres, France
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