Halifax III MZ924 - Smålandsfarvandet                                           Updated:  12 JAN 2012

Airman Surname Init Rank Service Sqdn P_link Plane Operation Crash_site Crash_d Buried_d C_link At_Next
a088001.htm Braund  J P F/Lt RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b140545 c088.htm Skælskør
a008001.htm Eddleston M C F/Sgt RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b130445 c008.htm Brarup
a093001.htm Leforte  R L Sgt RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b260745 c093.htm Stubbekøbing
a096053.htm Ritchie  J F/O RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b110545 c096.htm Svinø
a096052.htm Russell  R E Sgt RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b140645 c096.htm Svinø
a007002.htm Watson  D S Sgt RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b130645 c007.htm Bogø
a008002.htm Wood    A F/O RAF 77 p396.htm HAL MZ924 Minelaying Smålandsfarvandet d150245 b260445 c008.htm Brarup


"I forbindelse med en mineudlægningsoperation natten til den 15. februar 1945 nedstyrtede en "Halifax" i havet et sted syd for Sjælland.
Hele besætningen omkom." (FAF) Styrtet var måske omkring her. Se foto af propel fra dette fly.  Se Google Map p396.

"Denne nat bombede 717 RAF bombemaskiner Chemnitz (her), medens 30 Lancasters og 24 Halifaxes minerede i Kadetrenden (her). 5 Halifaxes og 1 Lancaster
fra minelægningsenheden blev skudt ned fortrinsvis af tyske natjagere. Ingen observerede nedskydningen af MZ924, men i løbet af foråret og sommeren 1945
drev ligene af besætningsmedlemmerne ind langs kysten af Smålandsfarvandet." (FT 86-93-32)
(Eneste anden Halifax nedstyrtet i Smålandsfarvandet var p304 HAL HX151 øst for Omø omkring her den 24. april 1944.)

Besætningen på HAL MZ924 er begravet i Skælskør (1), Brarup (2), Stubbekøbing (1), Svinø (2) og Bogø (1).  7 flyvere.

"In connection with a minelaying operation on the night before 15 February 1945 a "Halifax" crashed into the sea somewhere south of Zealand.
All of the crew perished." (FAF) The crash was maybe about here. See photo of a propeller from this plane. See Google Map p396.

"This night 717 RAF bombers targeted Chemnitz (here), while 30 Lancasters and 24 Halifaxes laid mines in the Kadet Channel (here). 5 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster
from the minelaying formation were shot down, most of them by German night fighters. Nobody observed the shooting down of MZ924, but during the spring and
summer of 1945 the bodies of the crew members drifted in on the beaches of the Smålandsfarvandet." (FT 86-93-32)
(The only other Halifax crashed into the Smålandsfarvandet was p304 HAL HX151 east of Omø about here on 24 April 1944.)

The airmen of HAL MZ924 are buried in Skælskør (1), Brarup (2), Stubbekøbing (1), Svinø (2) and Bogø (1).

See Bomber Command No. 77 Squadron and RAF - Handley Page Halifax. This Halifax took off from RAF Full Sutton.
See Handley Page Halifax III at Yorkshire Air Museum and The Wartime Memories Project - 77 Squadron.  Lost Bombers has this. 7 airmen.