Roy Webster                                                                                       Updated: 17 APR 2023

Airman: o888100.htm Surname: Webster Init: R Rank: Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 142

P_link: p122.htm Plane: WEL BJ653 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Near Lintrup

Crash_d: d131042 Buried_d: o888 C_link: o888.htm At_Next: POW

Den 13. oktober 1942 kl. 18.36 lettede WEL BJ653 fra RAF Grimsby med kurs mod Kiel med 810 brandbomber på 4 pund.
Basen hørte ikke mere fra flyet. Senere blev besætningen rapporteret fanget. (Kilde: p122MACR - blanket om savnet besætning)
Omkring kl. 23 styrtede flyet ned. (Kilde: DFEV) Før det var de 5 flyvere sprunget ud med faldskærm.

Flyet styrtede ned nær Lintrup, her  omkring 250 m nord for Tornumgårdsvej 3, 6660 Lintrup.
Kilde: Holger Jensen. Se fotos fra nedstyrtningsstedet og dele på Wellings Landsbymuseum.

"4 flyvere henvendte sig til beboere i omegnen. Politiet blev ringet op af disse, og flyverne blev hentet og afleveret til tyskerne." (DFEV)
Bemærk historien om Roy Webster, der næsten nåede Sverige. De 5 flyvere blev sendt til til Tyske krigsfangelejre.

Sergent (Navigator) Roy Webster, 31 år, var fra Hull, United Kingdom. Læs den enestående historie om hans vej næsten til Sverige baseret på DFEV:

7 dage senere meddelte politiet i Helsingør, at man der havde anholdt RAF-flyveren Roy Webster, nedstyrtet ved Rødding den 13. oktober 1942. Han blev anholdt ved Trykkerdammen (her) ”hvor han havde interesseret sig for de derliggende aflåsede både, idet han formentlig agtede at tilvende sig en sådan, for med den at flygte til Sverige. Anholdte oplyser, at hans navn er Roy Webster, f. 27/2 1912 i Hull i England, samt at han er engelsk undersåt, navigatør-sergent i Royal Air Force og har nr. 1091141” siger den danske politirapport. Webster gav en kort beretning om sin flugt til dansk politi, inden han blev overgivet til tyskerne.

Abwehrstelle (Københavnsafdelingen af den tyske militære efterretningstjeneste ledet af Admiral Canaris) var stærkt interesseret i at få oplyst, hvordan det kunne gå til, at en britisk flyver i uniform kunne spadsere fra Sønderjylland til Helsingør uden at blive arresteret. Afhøringen blev foretaget på engelsk af afdeling  III F ved Abwehrstelle og afhøringsrapporten på tysk er kilde til denne beretning i DFEV.

”Webster oplyste, at han, efter at være landet med faldskærm ved Rødding, rullede skærmen sammen og begav sig på vandring. Da han var navigatør, havde han et kort over Danmark på sig, ligesom han nøje vidste, hvor i landet han var. Han havde sovet nogle timer i en halmstak og var derefter ”vandret videre og ved dagslys gået over Lillebæltsbroen. (Her) Han er ikke blevet standset af de tyske vagtposter, skønt han har set dem og de ham.” Ved Middelfart fandt Webster atter en halmstak. Efter at have sovet der gik han den 15. videre mod Odense. Han kom op at køre med en civil lastbil, hvis chauffør ved afskeden i Odense gav ham 10 kroner. Webster var ikke helt klar over, om han havde overnattet mellem Odense og Nyborg, hvor han købte færgebillet til Korsør. ”Han lod som om han var døvstum og skrev bare ordet ”Korsør” på en seddel, hvorefter han fik en billet.” (Se et overblik over ruten Lintrup-Helsingør omkring 300 km her.)

Efter sejlturen gik Webster videre mod Slagelse. På vejen overnattede han igen i en halmstak. Næste dag, antagelig den 17., gik han videre mod øst. Den 18. ved  middagstid nåede han Helsingør via Sorø, Ringsted og Roskilde, delvis pr. tre civile lastbiler.

Det havde været Websters plan at svømme over Øresund ved Helsingør, men på grund af storm havde han måttet opgive tanken. Derpå var han begyndt at interessere sig for de aflåsede både.

På spørgsmålet om, hvordan han havde ernæret sig, svarede Webster: ”Jeg havde min flyverration, som bestod af chokolade og andre styrkende ting, og undervejs har jeg plukket æbler. For de tiloversblevne  penge har jeg i en landsby mellem Roskilde og Hillerød – navnet husker jeg ikke mere – købt brød, 2 æg og fisk. Et æg var dårligt.”

Mon ikke der var et drillende glimt i øjet på Webster, da han fortalte de meget grundige folk fra Abwehrstelle om sin æghandel. Vi har lov til at tro det.

Afhøringen fortsatte. Den fynske lastbilchauffør? Nej, Webster kunne intet huske om den mand, der ved at punge ud med 10 kroner havde været hans vigtigste danske kontakt.

Med hensyn til de manglende gradstegn på sin uniform oplyste Webster, at han var kommet med på togtet i sidste øjeblik i stedet for en sygemeldt kammerat. Og det viste sig altså at være en trøje helt uden tegn af nogen art.

Tyskerne mente, at Websters blålige uniform let blev forvekslet med montørtøj.” (DFEV)

Historien ligner noget Wasik ville have fundet på, hvis han var blevet fanget i Frederikshavn parat til at sejle til Sverige! Under forhør nævner man ingen navne på hjælpere!

Hvis hans flugt var lykkedes, ville han efter Anders Bjørnvads kilder være den første allierede flyver til at nå Sverige. I stedet blev Donald V. Smith den første.

Alle 5 flyvere fra  WEL BJ653 blev en efter en taget til fange efter nogen tid. De blev sendt til til Tyske krigsfangelejre.

W/O J.C.Heddon blev interneret i L1 Barth / L6 Heydekrug / L4 Gross Tychow med Sgt A.M.Paton, Sgt L.H.H.Stift og Sgt R.S.Taylor.
Sgt R.Webster i L1 Barth / L6 Heydekrug / 357 Fallingbostel. (Kilde: Lost Bombers)

On 13 October 1942 at 1836 hrs. WEL BJ653 left RAF Grimsby targeting Kiel with 810 x 4 lb incendiaries. No news to the base after take-off.
"Crew later reported as P.O.Ws."  (p122MACR  Missing Air Crew Report)
At about 2300 hrs. the plane crashed. (Source: DFEV) Before that the 5 airmen had bailed out.

The plane crashed near Lintrup, here  about 250 m north of Tornumgaardsvej 3, DK-6660 Lintrup.
Source: Holger Jensen. See photos from the crash site and parts at Welling's Village Museum.

"4 airmen approached residents of the area who called the police and the airmen were fetched and handed over to the Germans." (DFEV)
Notice the story of Roy Webster who nearly made it to Sweden.  The 5 airmen were taken to German POW-Camps.

Sergent (Navigator) Roy Webster, 31, was from Hull, United Kingdom.

Read the outstanding story of his way nearly to Sweden based on DFEV:

7 days later police in Elsinore announced that they had arrested the RAF airman Roy Webster, crashed at Rødding on 13 October, 1942. He was arrested at Trykkerdammen (here) “where he showed interest in the boats there, all of them locked, apparently with the intention of stealing one and then evading to Sweden. He says that his name is Roy Webster, born on 27 February 1912 in Hull in England, that he is an English citizen, Navigator-Sergeant in the Royal Air Force and has number 1091141” the Danish police report says. Webster gave a short account of his evasion to the Danish police, before he was handed over to the Germans.

Abwehrstelle (the Copenhagen branch of the German Military Intelligence Agency headed by Admiral Canaris) was strongly interested in learning how a British airman in uniform could walk from the southern part of Jutland to Elsinore without being arrested. The interrogation was carried out in English by department III F at Abwehrstelle and the interrogation report in German is the source of this account in DFEV.

“Webster stated that after having landed with parachute at Rødding he coiled up his parachute and started his walk. As a navigator he carried a map of Denmark and he knew precisely where in the country he was. He had slept some hours in a stack of straw and had then “walked on and at daylight crossed the Little Belt Bridge. (Here) He has not been stopped by the German guards even if he has seen them and they have seen him.” At Middelfart Webster found another stack of straw. After his sleep there he walked on for Odense on 15 October. He got a lift with a civilian truck, whose driver gave him 10 kr, when they parted in Odense. Webster did not quite know if he had spent a night between Odense and Nyborg, where he bought a ferry ticket for Korsør.

”He pretended to be deaf-mute and just wrote the word ”Korsør” on a slip of paper, and then he got a ticket.” (See an overview of the route Lintrup-Helsingør (Elsinore) about 300 km here.)

After the sail Webster walked on heading for Slagelse. On his way he again spent a night in a stack of straw. Next day, most likely 17/10, he walked on east. On 18/10 at noon he came to Elsinore via Sorø, Ringsted and Roskilde, part of the time with 3 civilian trucks.

It had been Webster´s plan to swim across the Sound at Elsinore, but because of a storm he had been forced to drop the idea. Then he had started to take an interest in the locked boats.

To the question how he had provided food Webster answered, ”I had my airman´s ration of chocolate and other refreshing items, and on my way I have picked apples. For the money left I bought bread, 2 eggs and fish in a village between Roskilde and Hillerød – I don´t recall the name any more – . One egg was bad.”

There may have been a teasing twinkle in his eyes, when he told the very careful people of Abwehrstelle about his bargain of eggs. We may believe that.

The interrogation went on. The truck driver on Funen? No, Webster remembered nothing of the man, who by giving him 10 kr had been his most important Danish contact.

As to the lacking badges of rank on his uniform Webster stated that he had been assigned to the raid at the last moment instead of a comrade, who was reported sick. That was why he had grabbed the first jacket he came across – and it appeared to be a jacket with no badges of any kind.

The Germans held that Webster´s bluish uniform would easily be mistaken for the dress of a machine fitter.” (DFEV)

Roy Webster´s account is either true – or it is a story similar to something Wasik would have made up, if he had been caught in Frederikshavn ready to sail to Sweden! You do not in an interrogation give names of people who have helped you!

If his evasion had succeeded he would have been the first allied airman to reach Sweden, according to the sources of Anders Bjørnvad. Instead Donald V. Smith became the first.

After some time all 5 airmen from WEL BJ653 were taken prisoners one by one. They were taken to German POW-Camps.

W/O J.C.Heddon was interned in Camps L1 Barth / L6 Heydekrug / L4 Gross Tychow with Sgt A.M.Paton, Sgt L.H.H.Stift and Sgt R.S.Taylor.
Sgt R.Webster in Camps L1 Barth / L6 Heydekrug / 357 Fallingbostel. (Source: Lost Bombers)

See No. 142 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia * Wellington    
Wellington III BJ653 PH-R  took off from RAF Grimsby at 18.36 hrs on 13 OCT 1942. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.)  5 airmen.