Alan Wilfred Knapp                         Updated: 11 OCT 2021

Airman: a003008.htm Surname: Knapp Init: A W Rank: Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 576

P_link: p314.htm Plane: LAN ME726 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site: Gamtofte.

Crash_d: d160544 Buried_d: b160544 C_link: c003.htm At_Next: Assens

Den 16. maj 1944 blev LAN ME726 skudt ned over Gamtofte her på vej til mineudlægning i Kiel Bugt. Da RAF ikke havde andre større operationer den nat blev formationen hurtigt sporet af det tyske radarsystem, og 3 Lancasters blev skudt ned over dansk område. De 2 andre var LAN LL963
ved Avernakø og LAN LL984 i Nordsøen. (Kilde: FT 86-66-33)

 "Et "Lancaster" fly på mineudlægningsoperation blev den 16. maj 1944 kort efter midnat skudt ned over Syd-Fyn. Flyets last af miner eksploderede, da det ramte jorden ved sydsiden af en lille dam i præstegårdshaven i Gamtofte. Præstegården, kirken og en del ejendomme i byen blev stærkt beskadiget, i hvert fald præstegården i en sådan grad, at en ny måtte bygges.

Hele flyets besætning blev dræbt. De omkomne blev begravet den 16. maj 1944, tilsyneladende af
den tyske værnemagt.
Sognets beboere rejste en mindesten ved nedstyrtningsstedet i Gamtofte." (FAF)

Sergeant (Flight Engineer) Alan Wilfred Knapp was from the United Kingdom. (Kilde: CWGC)

Se artikel Den nat himlen faldt ned af Lone Theils i Berlingske Tidende lørdag den 24. april 2004 og Foto af Ernest James Presland.
Avisartikler på engelsk og dansk gav kontakter med Elisabeth Ege Olsen som anker på dansk
side, så familiemedlemmer besøgte Fyn i 2004 og i 2005.
Se  Besøget 2004 * Doris Hendrick * Faldne engelske flyvere mindes * Assens i engelsk avis  Propellen * Gamtofte 16. maj 2004 * Besøg fra Canada 2005. 
Mere om senere besøg og om flyet på siden LAN ME726. 8 flyvere.

On 16 May 1944 LAN ME726 was shot down over Gamtofte here on its way to Kiel Bay
on a minelaying mission. The formation was quickly traced by the German radar system, as the
RAF had no other greater operations that night, and 3 Lancasters were shot down over Danish territory.
The 2 others were LAN LL963 at Avernakø and LAN LL984 in the North Sea. (Source: FT 86-66-33)

"Shortly after midnight on 16 May 1944 a Lancaster on a minelaying operation was shot down over South Funen. The bomb load of mines exploded when the plane
hit the ground at the south side of a small pond in the garden of the rectory in Gamtofte. The rectory, the church and a number of houses in the village were severely damaged - at least the rectory so much that a new house had to be built.

All of the crew were killed. The perished were buried on 16 May 1944, apparently by the German Wehrmacht.
The residents of the parish of Gamtofte erected a memorial stone at the crash site in Gamtofte." (FAF)

Sergeant (Flight Engineer) Alan Wilfred Knapp was from the United Kingdom. (Source: CWGC)
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 60.

See article Den nat himlen faldt ned (The night the sky came down) by Lone Theils in Berlingske Tidende on 24 April 2004 and Photo of Ernest James Presland.
Articles in English and Danish gave contacts with Elisabeth Ege Olsen as the Danish anchor, so relatives of the airmen visited Funen in 2004 and in 2005.
See The visit 2004 * Doris Hendrick * Programme * After 60 years families visit aircrew´s graves * The propeller * Gamtofte 16 May 2004*A visit from Canada 2005.
More about later visits and about the plane on LAN ME726. 8 airmen.