Lancaster NN775 Overloon

Bomber Command pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale

This app is an educational tool for visitors of the Overloon War Museum, interested in a real air crash investigation of a former Royal Air Force bomber. The Lancaster NN775 of 514 Squadron crashed on March 5, 1945 around 3 pm near the Belgium town of Glabbeek. This machine had taken off at 10:35 am in Waterbeach with 169 other bombers and was en route to Gelsenkirchen to attack a petrol refinery. The seven people on board were killed: pilot F/O Holman Kerr (23y), Sgt William Marsden (20y), navigator F/Sgt Sidney Smith (21y), F/O Frank Clarke, F/Sgt Allan Olsen (20y - Australia), Sgt Christopher Hogg (20y) and Sgt Herbert Thomas (23y - Jamaica). Initially, in the first years after the war, only paltry remains were found, buried under a cross marked "Bomber Crew (Perhaps 5)". These first years were particularly difficult for the families involved, as they remained in the dark about the fate of the crew for a long time. Only an Australian badge was found for Allan Olsen, for example - as he was the only Australian, this meant that he too had definitely died.

In 2016 the plane was recovered by members of Plane Hunters Belgium, BAHAAT and several archeologists. The plan had been stored for several years before it was transferred to The Netherlands in 2021. Since then, it is on display at the Overloon War Museum.

The crew of the NN775 now rests in a collective grave in Heverlee.