Arthur Thomas Thornton         Photo: Knud Riis     Updated: 09 FEB 2024

Airman: a014217.htm Surname: Thornton Init: A T Rank: P/O Service: RAAF Sqdn: 103

P_link: p287.htm Plane: LAN ND420 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site: At Brande

Crash_d: d100444 Buried_d: b150444 C_link: c014.htm At_Next: Esbjerg, A. 7. 16

  Se historien i flere detaljer ved flyet LAN ND420.
"Nordvest for Horsens (måske omkring her) blev flyet angrebet af en tysk natjager og brød i brand. Over en 10 km lang strækning forsøgte de 7 desperate besætningsmedlemmer at forlade det brændende fly. Liget af et stærkt forbrændt besætningsmedlem blev fundet ved Tykskov (Nimmo, omkring her), 10 km øst for Brande, og over Dørslund eksploderede en benzintank, hvilket spredte vragdele over et 3 kvadratkilometer stort område (forreste del af flyet landede omkring her), og yderligere 2 forbrændte lig blev fundet ved Dørslund. (Bernaldo, omkring her og Roberts omkring her. Bradley blev fundet omkring her og Thornton omkring her.) Hovedparten af flyet styrtede dog ned på et åbent område ved sygehuset i Brande (her hvor mindestenen blev rejst.)" (FT 90-102-21) (Positioner taget fra Lancaster ND420 - skudt ned 10. april 1944 s. 19.)

Pilot Officer Arthur Thomas Thornton, 24 år, var søn af Arthur Henry og Eileen Kathleen Thornton; gift med Shirley Joyce Thornton, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Kilde: CWGC)

Se monument for besætningen på
LAN ND420 rejst her i 1999 på nedstyrtningsstedet.
Se Lancaster ND420 - skudt ned 10. april 1944 (pdf, 1.13 MB, 34 sider)
af Poul Westergaard Jensen via Brande Arkiv. Se også Nimmos Ur via Brande Arkiv.

Se Google Map Mine 10 APR 1944 * Minelægningsområder * p287MACR * Lancaster fotos. 7 flyvere. 

See the story in more details at the plane LAN ND420.
"Northwest of Horsens (maybe about here) the plane was attacked by a German night fighter and caught fire. Over a distance of 10 km the 7 desperate crew members tried to abandon the burning plane. The body of a severely burnt crew member was found at Tykskov (Nimmo, about here), 10 km east of Brande, and over Dørslund a fuel tank exploded, so debris was scattered over an area of 3 square kilometres (the front end of the plane crashed about here). Two more burnt bodies were found at Dørslund. (Bernaldo, about here and Roberts about here. Bradley was found about here and Thornton about here.) The main part of the plane crashed into an open area at the hospital in Brande (here where the memorial stone was erected)." (FT 90-102-21) (Positions taken from Lancaster ND420 - skudt ned 10. april 1944 s. 19.)

Pilot Officer Arthur Thomas Thornton, 24, was the son of Arthur Henry and Eileen Kathleen Thornton, and the husband of Shirley Joyce Thornton, of Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.(CWGC) Virtual War Memorial Australia has this. He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, P1, P107.  

See monument to the crew of LAN ND420 erected here in 1999 at the crash site. See collage 2004 from Arne Mosgaard.
See Lancaster ND420 - skudt ned 10. april 1944  (pdf, 1.13 MB, 34 pages) by Poul Westergaard Jensen - in Danish, but with photos and some documents in English
via  Brande Arkiv. See also Nimmo's Watch via Brande Arkiv.

 
See Lancaster photos* No. 103 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia* 103 Squadron - RAF* RAF Elsham Wolds Association* Google Map Mine 10 APR 1944* Minelaying areas
Lancaster III ND420 PM-C took off from RAF Elsham Wolds at 21:18 on 09 APR 1943. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this p287MACR   7 airmen.