KARUP WEEKLY        Links            På dansk                                           Updated:  26 OCT 2012

LAN R5679 crashed west of Grønhøj on 25 SEP 1942. All 7 airmen perished.
After contacts from his readers editor Knud Gaarn-Larsen established a likely crash site.
On Monday 8 October 2012 we found pieces of wreckage with metal detectors here, at close range  here, overview here.


Google Map p114 Lancaster R5679 *
Near the crash site * They found the crash site * The crash site in the wood * They found pieces of wreckage.

Pilot L.W. Morrison was the uncle of David Geddes, see Photos and texts from David Geddes.
KARUP WEEKLY was involved via innkeeper Gregers Laigaard, Grønhøj Kro.
See
19 SEP 2012: In 1942 a plane fell down in Grønhøj  See
One airman was killed, when he hit the ground here. See T. R. Bevan.
26 SEP 2012: My uncle fell down in Grønhøj by editor Knud Gaarn-Larsen - see email from DG
A very important source of this article was the first email from David Geddes to Gregers Laigaard.
03 OCT 2012: Local information on air crash in Grønhøj 70 years ago.
17 OCT 2012: Lancaster located
- see photos in the Danish edition

In 1942 a plane fell down in Grønhøj by editor Knud Gaarn-Larsen.

On 25 September it is 70 years since a British Lancaster bomber with a crew of 7 airmen was shot down over Grønhøj.
The plane was attacked by a German fighter and 7 crew members perished.

One of the airmen managed to bail out, but by then the plane had come so far down that the parachute did not have time to open up, so the airman
perished in the crash. He landed in the garden of Edvard Betzer, Mønstedvej 16.

The family had heard the noise during the night, but it was not until the next morning that Marie Betzer discovered something white in the garden.
In the first place she thought that it was some laundry that had gone astray, but soon she found out that it was a parachute. She also found the
airman who had perished in the crash that was so violent that he had made a big hole in the ground.

Edvard Betzer was not at home himself. He thrashed grain for others and that day he was in Høgild, but his bicycle had a flat tire, so he had to
spend the night in Høgild.

Instead Peter Betzer, a son living at home, was sent on his bike to Parish Executive Officer Celius Herold with information about what had happened.

Celius Herold, who had a telephone, called the police and told them about the incident, but in the first place the police were unwilling to believe the
story told by a boy. However, the Parish Executive Officer reassured the police that the Betzers did not bring incorrect information. Then the Germans
were informed and they came with a lorry and a coffin. The Germans picked up the airman and the parachute and placed both in the truck body.
It was said that the German soldiers clapped their hands before they departed.

The plane that was shot down was Lancaster QMO R5679 with the 7 crew members Sgt Thomas Ralph Bevan, Sgt Cedric Nils Coldicott, Sgt Alexander McGee Cormack, F/Sgt John Alvin Duffield, Sgt Edwin Dyson, F/Sgt William Young Emerslund and Sgt Lewis Wilson Morrison, the Pilot.
On 29 September all of the perished crew were buried in Frederikshavn Cemetery where their graves can still be seen today.