Beretning fra - Account from Bent Krath        Links          Updated:  26 OCT 2012                          Photo: Carl Otto Sørensen


LAN R5679 styrtede ned vest for Grønhøj den 25. september 1942. Alle 7 flyvere omkom. Se Google Map p114 LAN R5679.

Bent Krath fortalte i oktober 2012 til UGE-AVISEN KARUP i artiklen Lokale oplysninger om flystyrt i Grønhøj for 70 år siden
og senere til www.airmen.dk:

Jeg var 18 år dengang og havde en plads på landet i Fløjgårde hos Niels Knudsen på den gård, der nu hedder Fallesgårdevej 45,
7470 Karup J. Jeg blev sammen med de øvrige på gården vækket af et voldsomt spektakel og løb ud for at se, hvad det var.
Det var svært at se noget  i mørket, men jeg kunne høre lyden af motorerne og også af maskingeværsalver, når de skød mod
hinanden. Flere projektiler ramte gavlen på en nabogård, nu Herningvej 66, 8800 Viborg, og et af dem gik gennem vinduet til soveværelset og slog ned i gavlen ved fodenden af en seng, men heldigvis uden at nogen kom til skade. Jeg har lige været derude
igen, så jeg er sikker på det var Herningvej 66 (her).       

Dagen efter tog jeg ud til vraget for at se nærmere på det. Flyet havde ramt jorden i kanten af marken og det fortsatte et stykke ind på heden - svært at huske hvor
langt. Flyet var nogenlunde helt, men det var sunket noget sammen og den forreste del var klemt sammen. Der havde været en voldsom brand, som havde brændt
alt det, der kunne brænde. Der var kun metaldele tilbage af sæderne. Tyskerne havde været der, da vi kom, og de havde fjernet de flyvere, der var i maskinen.

Inde i cockpittet kunne jeg se et fuglebur, og heri lå 4 døde brevduer, der var ringmærket. Gad vide, om det var nogen man havde med, så man kunne lukke dem ud,
hvis man faldt ned. I dette tilfælde lykkedes det ikke.

LAN R5679 crashed west of Grønhøj on 25 SEP 1942. All 7 airmen perished. See Google Map p114 Lancaster R5679.

In October 2012 Bent Krath related to the KARUP WEEKLY in the article Local information on air crash in Grønhøj 70 years ago and later to www.airmen.dk:

I was 18 years old then and worked as a farmhand in Fløjgårde on Niels Knudsen's farm, now Fallesgårdevej 45, 7470 Karup J.

I and the others on the farm were awakened by a tremendous noise, and we ran out to see what was up. It was hard to see anything in the darkness, but I heard
the sound of the engines and also rounds of machine gun fire when they shot at each other. A number of bullets hit the gable of a neighbouring farm, now Herningvej
66, 8800 Viborg, and one of them went through the window and hit the foot of a bed. Fortunately nobody was hurt. I have just been out there once more, so I am
certain that it was Herningvej 66 (here). 

The next day I went to the wreckage to have a closer look. The plane had hit the ground at the border of the field and it went on into the heath - hard to remember
how far. The aircraft was still nearly in one piece, but it had subsided to some degree and the front end was squeezed together. There had been a violent fire that had
burnt everything that could burn. Only metal parts were left of the seats. The Germans had been there when we came, and they had removed the airmen who were in
the plane.

In the cockpit I saw a bird-cage with 4 dead carrier-pigeons with ringings. I wonder if they were in the plane to be let out in case of an air crash. In this case it failed.