TracesOfWar.com

Crash Site Dakota FZ626

(Netherlands, the - Guelders - Arnhem)

On 19 september 1944 Dakota FZ626 was hit by flak during a resupply-mission to the Arnhem battlefields. Pilot P/O J.L. (Len) Wilson tried to crash his aircraft into a German light flak position in the corner of Supply Dropping Point 'V', but he just missed it. The aircraft struck a house on the Bakenbergseweg 262 in Arnhem and crashed in the back garden. Only the navigator W/O L.C. Gaydon and the two air despatchers, Driver V. Dillworth and Driver W. Jenkinson survived. They were taken POW. The dead crew members were buried at site. After the war they were reburied at the Oosterbeek War Cemetery: Pilot Officer J.L. Wilson (pilot), Flight Sergeant H. Osborne (co-pilot) and Flight Sergeant R.F. French (wireless operator). The other two despatchers: Driver R.C Newth was wounded and taken to the Arnhem Municipal Hospital where he later died of his wounds. Lance Corporal J. Grace was identified in December 1988. They are also buried at the Oosterbeek Cemetery.

The partially demolished house was rebuilt after the war. There is no memorial to mark the crash site. Only the birch tree that was hit by the aircraft, is a silent witness.

Source

• Text: Arjan Vrieze
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze

TracesOfWar.com series

• Dakota crashsites