Donald Broadhead                                                                                   Updated: 24 MAR 2021

Airman: o888245.htm Surname: Broadhead Init: D Rank: Sgt Service: RAF Sqdn: 50

P_link: p074.htm Plane: MAN L7489 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: At Marienborg, Møn

Crash_d: d090542 Buried_d: o888 C_link: o888.htm At_Next: POW

Den 8. maj 1942 angreb 193 fly Warnemünde (her) mens 9 Manchesters skulle bombe den nærliggende Heinkel flyfabrik. MAN L7489  blev muligvis ramt af flak og kl. 02:20 (4½ time efter start) sendte flyet radiosignal "Crew bailing out". 6 besætningsmedlemmer nåede at springe ud, før flyet styrtede ned omkring her ved Store Lind nær Marienborg Gods (her - Marienborg Alle 3A, 4780 Stege). Sgt (Pilot) Maurice Gruber, der var frivillig fra Rhodesia, blev dræbt, da bombelasten eksploderede. Den 13. maj blev han begravet som den første allierede flyver på Svinø Kirkegård.

De 6 andre besætningsmedlemmer blev taget til fange og sendt til Tyske krigsfangelejre. (FT 86-87-3 og FAF)
Sergeant Donald Broadhead og de 5 andre krigsfanger fra MAN L7489 overlevede krigen.

7 flyvere.

On 8 May 1942 193 planes attacked Warnemünde (her) while 9 Manchesters were to bomb the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. MAN L7489 may have been hit by flak, and at 02:20 (4½ hours after takeoff) a radio signal was sent from the plane: "Crew bailing out". 6 crew members managed to bail out before the plane crashed about here at Store Lind near Marienborg Estate (here - Marienborg Alle 3A, DK-4780 Stege). Sgt (Pilot) Maurice Gruber, a volunteer from Rhodesia, was killed when the bomb load exploded. On 13 May he became the first allied airman to be buried in Svinø Churchyard.

The 6 other crew members were captured and taken to German POW-Camps. (FT 86-87-3 and FAF)
From Dulag Luft at Oberursel they were all taken to Stalag Luft III Sagan.
Later some of them were transferred to Stalag Luft VI Heydekrug and on to Stalag 357  Fallingbostel.

Sergeant Donald Broadhead and the 5 other POWs from MAN L7489 survived the war.

See No. 50 Squadron RAF on Wikipedia and RAF-Lincolnshire.info about 50 Squadron RAF.
Manchester I L7489 VN-  took off from RAF Skellingthorpe at 21.46 hrs on 08 MAY 1942. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this + Archive Report.) 7 airmen.