George Harold Willis                                  Updated: 17 MAY 2022

Airman: a096029.htm Surname: Willis Init: G H Rank: P/O Service: RAF Sqdn: 158

P_link: p158.htm Plane: HAL HR722 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Off Drøsselbjerg Klint

Crash_d: d210443 Buried_d: b210543 C_link: c096.htm At_Next: Svinø

 Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) George Harold Willis, 26 år, var søn af Robert Ernest Willis og Margaret
Willis (f. Stewart). Han var gift med Betty Willis, Chelsea, London, United Kingdom. (Kilde: CWGC)

Den 21. april 1943 endte HAL HR722 i vandet her få meter fra strandkanten nær Sandkrogen 11,
4200 Slagelse. (Kilde: Janus Barfoed) Se Korsør Avis om flystyrt og fotos af Christian Larsen samt
Besøg ved nedskudt flyvers gravsten. Monument 2015 * Strand 2015. Halifax Print

Flyvehistorisk Tidsskrift skriver:
"20.-21. april 1943 (Kl. 02.16). Drøsselbjerg Klint, 14 km NV for Slagelse. Halifax B.II HR722 (NP-C).
158 BS, 4 BG, Lissett, Yorks. (Stettin) 8 MA (Svinø).
Under returflyvningen blev flyet ramt af flak over Korsør, og piloten forsøgte en nødlanding ved Drøsselbjerg Klint. Flyet ramte jorden, men hastigheden var for stor, og det fortsatte ud over vandet. Næste dag blev vragrester fundet ca. 200 meter fra kysten, og den efterfølgende måned drev ligene af besætningsmedlemmerne i land langs kysten syd for klinten." (FT 88-32-9)

8 flyvere. Se Stettin + Rostock 20 - 21 April 1943.

Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) George Harold Willis, 26, was the son of Robert Ernest Willis and of Margaret Willis (née Stewart), and the husband of Betty Willis, of Chelsea, London, United Kingdom. (Source: CWGC)
"Rather deathe than false of faythe"
He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 2, P 266.   

On 21 April 1943 HAL HR722 ended up in the water here a few metres from the beach near Sandkrogen 11,
4200 Slagelse. (Source: Janus Barfoed) See Korsør Avis about air crashes,
photos by Christian Larsen.  See also A visit at the gravestone of an airman shot down over Denmark.

(Danish) Aviation Historical Review writes:
"20 - 21 April 1943 (at 02.16 hours). Drøsselbjerg Klint, 14 km NW of Slagelse. Halifax B.II HR722 (NP-C).
158 BS, 4 BG, Lissett, Yorks. (Stettin) 8 MA (Svinø).
During the return flight the plane was hit by flak over Korsør, and the pilot attempted a forced landing at Drøsselbjerg Klint (Cliff). The plane hit the ground,
but the speed was so high that it went on and ended up in the water. Next day pieces of wreckage were found about 200 metres off the coast.
The crew members were washed ashore south of the cliff in the following month." (FT 88-32-9)

See No. 158 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia * Halifax Print * Halifax - Bless 'Em All. Halifax * Halifax-BC Museum.Canada * Halifax-RAF Museum *
Halifax-The Yorkshire Air Museum * LAN-HAL * 158 Squadron Association - Strength in Unity and Memorial to 158 Squadron stationed at RAF Lissett including videos.
Halifax II HR722 NP-C took off from  RAF Lissett at 21.18 hrs on 20 APR 1943. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) The IBCC has more details at each airman.
8 airmen. See Stettin + Rostock 20 - 21 April 1943.  A memorial plaque was unveiled at the crash site on 21 April 2014.