Harry Ernest Steele     Photo: Knud Riis  Updated: 05 OCT 2021
                                                                       
Airman: a014185.htm Surname: Steele Init: H E Rank: Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 90

P_link: p245.htm Plane: STI EF191 Operation: Minelaying Crash_site:  At Hemmet

Crash_d: d021243 Buried_d: b171243 C_link: c014.htm At_Next: Esbjerg,  A. 8. 19

 STI EF191 styrtede ned ved Hemmet i Vestjylland natten til den 2. december 1943 i forbindelse med en minelægningsoperation. Hele besætningen blev dræbt. Alle 7 flyvere blev begravet i Esbjerg den 17. december 1943. (Kilde: FAF) Se monument for besætningen fra STI EF191 - og hvordan du finder stedet!

Damgaard Hansen og hans hustru så i den stjerneklare nat den brændende maskine tabe højde, mens den stadig skød tilbage mod en angribende natjager. Det så ud som om maskinen ville styrte ned i landsbyen Hemmet, inden den pludselig drejede til venstre og kom ud over et øde område. Den eksploderede nogle hundrede meter over jorden, styrtede ned og dannede et stort hul, der snart blev fyldt med vand. Tyskerne samlede kun de rester af de ligene, der lå oven på jorden. De blev begravet i Esbjerg. De, der lå indfiltret i den begravede maskine, blev liggende.
Damgaard Hansen og "Stur Jens", en gammel fisker og jæger, fik juleaften 1943 rejst et hjemmelavet kors med inskriptionen "God bless you" på nedstyrtningsstedet. (Kilde: Beretning om flystyrtet i Houm Enge den 1. december 1943, samlet i oktober 1993 af Niels Andreas Jensen, Hemmet) Se beretning fra Ove Medum.

Sergeant (Navigator) Harry Ernest Steele, 23 år, var søn af Harry og Mabel Steele; gift med Edna Steele, Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. (Kilde: CWGC)

STI EF191 crashed at Hemmet in western Jutland on the night before 2 December 1943 in connection with a minelaying operation. All of the crew perished. All 7 airmen were buried in Esbjerg on 17 December 1943. (Source: FAF) See monument to the crew of STI EF191 - and how you find it!

In the starry night Damgaard Hansen and his wife saw the burning plane lose altitude, while it was still firing back at an attacking night fighter. It looked as if the plane would crash in the village of Hemmet, until it suddenly turned left and came over a desolate area. It exploded some hundred metres above the ground,
crashed and made a big crater, which soon was filled with water. The Germans only collected parts of the
bodies visible on the ground. They were buried in Esbjerg. Parts of bodies entangled in the wreck of the
plane in the crater were just left. On Christmas Eve 1943 Damgaard Hansen and "Big Jens",an old fisherman
and hunter, erected a wooden cross of their own making with the inscription "God bless you" at the crash site.
(Source: Account of the air crash in Houm Enge on 1 December 1943, collected in October 1993 by Niels Andreas Jensen, Hemmet)

Sergeant (Navigator) Harry Ernest Steele, 23, was the son of Harry and Mabel Steele, and the husband of
Edna Steele, of Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. (Source: CWGC) At rest in God's keeping   
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, Panel 247.
See account from Ove Medum * No. 90 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia * Short Stirling
Stirling III EF191 WP-H took off from RAF Wratting Common at 1513 hrs on 1 DEC 1943. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) 7 airmen.