Elmer Robert Vance                          Updated: 06 JUN 2021     From Don´s album

Airman: a096016.htm Surname: Vance Init: E R Rank: P/O Service: RCAF Sqdn: 7

P_link: p157.htm Plane: STI R9261 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Kongsmark

Crash_d: d210443 Buried_d: b240443 C_link: c096.htm At_Next: Svinø

 "Natten mellem den 20. og 21. april 1943 angreb 339 RAF bombefly Stettin. Vejret var klart, og markeringen fra Pathfinders var perfekt. Ca. 40 ha af den centrale bydel blev ramt, og 13 fabrikker og 380 huse blev totalt ødelagt. 580 personer blev dræbt ved angrebet. Samtidig angreb 86 Stirlings Rostock. - Samtlige fly fløj ind over Danmark ved Esbjerg.- 13 Lancasters, 8 Halifax og 9 Stirlings gik tabt." (FT 88-32) Af dem gik 19 fly tabt over dansk område.
Se Stettin + Rostock 20 - 21 April 1943 og Google Map p149-167.

På hjemturen fra Stettin her blev  STI R9261 angrebet af en Me110 og brød i brand. Se Korsør Avis om flystyrt. Det lykkedes kun Sgt (Flight Engineer) Donald V. Smith at springe ud med faldskærm. Efter landingen gik han tværs over Sjælland og nåede frem til Helsingør, hvor han fik hjælp til at flygte til Sverige som den første allierede flyver under krigen! Se Google Map Don's rute og Første flyver til Sverige.
Se Ny mindesten 1993 - og historien * Om Charles Parish * Besøg ved mindestenen 1999 * Besøg 2010.
De 7 andre besætningsmedlemmer blev dræbt ved styrtet, og de blev alle begravet på Svinø Kirkegård.
(Kilde: FT 88-33-10)

Pilot Officer (Navigator) Elmer Robert Vance, 25 år, var søn af Robert E. Hudson Vance og Martha Vance, Bethune, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Kilde: CWGC)

Besætningen på STI R9261 er mindet på dette monument rejst her nær nedstyrtningsstedet. Se også mindestenen i 2010.  8 flyvere.  

 "339 RAF bombers attacked Stettin on the night before 21 April 1943. The sky was clear, and the marking from Pathfinders was perfect. About 100 acres of the central part of the city were hit, and 13 factories and 380 houses were totally destroyed. 580 persons were killed in the attack. At the same time Rostock was attacked by 86 Stirlings. - All planes entered Danish airspace at Esbjerg. - 13 Lancasters, 8 Halifaxes and 9 Stirlings were lost."
(FT 88-32) 19 of them were lost over Danish territory. See Stettin + Rostock 20 - 21 April 1943 and Google Map p149-167.

STI R9261 was attacked by a Me110 on the return flight from Stettin here and caught fire. See Korsør Avis about air crashes. Only Sgt (Flight Engineer) Donald V. Smith managed to bail out with his parachute. After the landing he walked across Zealand and reached Helsingør (Elsinore), where he was helped to evade to Sweden as the first allied airmen in the war! See Google Map Don's route. See Links for  First Airman to Sweden   A Letter and 3 telegrams. See also Don´s Diary.
Helge Christiansen wrote New Memorial Stone 1993 - Escape from Denmark * About Charles Parish * A Visit to the Memorial Stone in 1999 * A Visit in 2010.
The 7 other members of the crew were killed in the crash, and they were all buried at Svinø.

Pilot Officer (Navigator) Elmer Robert Vance, 25, was the son of Robert E. Hudson Vance and Martha Vance, of Bethune, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Source: CWGC)
His name is engraved on the Memorial Wall at the BC Museum of Canada. The Canadian Virtual War Memorial has this.
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, Panel 257.

The crew of  STI R9261 is commemorated on this monument erected here near the crash site. See also the memorial stone in 2010.
See No. 7 Squadron RAF * 7 Squadron Association.
Stirling I R9261 MG-M took off from RAF Oakington at 21.00 hrs on 20 APR 1943 targeting Rostock. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) 8 airmen.