Den korte version: Under en dagpatruljeflyvning (Ranger) den 16. juni 1944 over Danmark blev MOS NS913 se fotos, skudt ned af en tysk jager ved Mariager
Fjord. De to ombordværende blev dræbt. P/O Turski blev begravet i Frederikshavn den 20.juni 1944, S/Ldr Herrick den 6. juli 1944. (Kilde: FAF)  p327MACR
Nedstyrtningsstedet er omkring her, ca. 2 km øst for Oue Kirke. (Kilde: Jørgen Toubro) Se Mosquito fotos og Google Map 14 Mosquitoes DK.
Se 21 polske flyvere begravet i Danmark ud af 36 polske flyvere skudt ned over Danmark.

Den lange version: 2 Mosquito fly blev den 16. juni 1944 sendt mod Danmark på en Ranger-mission. Den handlede om at skyde på alt af interesse, ikke mindst alt
tysk. I den ene jager hed piloten Bob Braham. Han konkurrerede med en kollega-pilot om flest nedskudte fly. I den anden jager var piloten Michael James Herrick,
23 år, født på New Zealand, kometagtig karriere i RAF. Trods sin unge alder var han squadronleader og havde, inden han kom til RAF, fået krigserfaring på
Stillehavet. Han var noteret for 10,5 nedskydninger. Den halve nedskydning fremkom ved, at han havde delt den med en anden britisk pilot. Herrick havde som
RAF-pilot fortrinsvis opereret over Frankrig.

Herrick og Braham var venner. Og ved flere lejligheder havde Herrick plaget vennen for at komme med på togt til Danmark - Braham havde nemlig gjort Danmark til
sit "jagtområde". Med ved sin side havde Herrick en polsk navigatør, Alexander Turski, 36 år.

Turen over Nordsøen gik glat for de to Mosquito-jagere. Ingen fjender var at se. Kl. 10.35 nåede flyverne det jydske fastland. Flyene fulgtes ad til Herning. Her skiltes
deres veje. Herrick havde ikke tidligere fløjet Ranger-mission - derfor havde han fået en kortere tur. Han fløj mod Aalborg, mens Braham satte kurs mod øst og
fortsatte ud over Kattegat til den nordlige del af Storebælt. Herrick vidste at der var tyske fly i Aalborg, men da hverken han eller navigatøren havde bemærket
aktivitet af nogen art, fløj de sydover. De vidste ikke, at den tyske radar forlængst havde set de to Mosquito-jagere. Fra Aalborg Lufthavn (Ost) gik en af Luftwaffes
lærere, leutnant Robert Spreckels på vingerne i sin Focke-Wulf 190. Se Tyske flyvepladser ved Aalborg.

Robert Spreckels havde en god måneds tid opholdt sig i Danmark. Her skulle han lære bombepiloter at flyve jagere - en uddannelse, der var pacet frem og handlede
om at få piloterne i luften så hurtigt som muligt. Tyskerne var i sommeren 1944 trængt. Det kneb med mennesker, materiel og brændstof. Spreckels var en eminent
dygtig og dristig pilot. Da krigen sluttede, havde han 21 nedskydninger bag sig, men han havde også selv prøvet at blive skudt ned ikke en men fire gange. Han var
heldig og kom ud af krigen med livet i behold.

Øjenvidner ved Mariager Fjord her fortæller at Mosquitoen blev forfulgt af den tyske fly, der kom ovenfra og dykkede ned under det engelske fly, inden det skød og
ramte i højre motor. Mosquitoen styrtede ned tæt ved Willestrup Å omkring her ca. 2 km øst for Oue Kirke.

Turski dræbtes, da han sprang ud fra flyet sekunder før det ramte jorden. Han blev fundet tæt ved en gravhøj, tæt ved landevejen Hobro-Hadsund,  omkring her.
Herrick forlod Mosquitoen over Mariager Fjord, omkring her. Hans lig blev bjerget senere. Begge blev begravet i Frederikshavn.

Den 25. juni 1944 blev Bob Braham skudt ned af Spreckels ved Ringkøbing. Braham blev krigsfange til krigens slutning. Da de mødtes i 1961 talte de også om nedskydningen over Mariager Fjord. Spreckels gav da - overfor Braham - udtryk for, at der havde været en "brave fight before crashing to their deaths".
Der var ikke tale om kamp overhovedet!
(Kilde: Jørgen Toubro: "Luftkamp" ved Mariager Fjord, Historisk Aarbog 2001 fra Randers Amts Historiske Samfund) 2 flyvere.

 The short version: During a Day ranger mission on 16 June, 1944 over Denmark MOS NS913 see photos, was shot down by a German fighter at Mariager
Fjord. The two aboard were killed. P/O Turski was buried in Frederikshavn on 20 June 1944, S/Ldr Herrick on 6 July 1944. (Source: FAF)
The crash site is about here, about 2 km east of Oue Church. (Source: Jørgen Toubro) See also Mosquito Photos and Google Map 14 Mosquitoes DK.

The long version: On 16 June 1944 2 Mosquitos were sent to Denmark on a Day ranger mission. Their aim was shooting at everything of interest, especially
everything German. Bob Braham was the pilot of one of the planes. He competed with another collegue about who shot down most planes. Michael James Herrick,
23, born in New Zealand with a meteoric career in the RAF, was the pilot of the other plane.

In spite of his young age he was a Squadron Leader and had before he joined the RAF war experience from the Pacific Ocean. His score was 10.5 planes shot down.
The 0.5 plane was because he had shared it with another British pilot. In the RAF Herrick had primarily operated over France.

Herrick and Braham were friends and on a number of occasions Herrick had pestered his friend to be allowed to join him on a mission to Denmark - Braham had
made Denmark his "hunting ground". At his side Herrick had a Polish navigator, Alexander Turski, 36.

The crossing of the North Sea was uneventful for the two Mosquitos. No enemy in sight. At 10:35 the planes came to Jutland. The planes were together till they came
to Herning. Here they took different directions. Herrick had not flown Day ranger missions before - so he was to take the shortest route. He flew towards Aalborg,
while Braham headed east and went on over the Kattegat to the northern part of the Great Belt.

Herrick knew that there were German planes in Aalborg, but since neither he nor the navigator had noticed any kind of activity, they headed south. They did not know
that the German radar had spotted the two Mosquitos long ago. From Aalborg (Ost) one of the Luftwaffe instructors, Leutnant Robert Spreckels took off in his
Focke-Wulf 190. See German airfields near Aalborg.

Robert Spreckels had been in Denmark a little more than a month. He was to teach pilots of bombers to fly fighters - a training, which was speeded up to get the
pilots up into the air as fast as possible. The Germans were under pressure in the summer of 1944. They were short of people, planes and fuel. Spreckels was a
brilliantly clever and daring pilot. At the end of the war he had shot down 21 planes, but he had also tried himself to be shot down not once but four times. He was
lucky and survived the war.

Eye witnesses at Mariager Fjord here relate that the Mosquito was chased by the German plane, which came from above and dived down below the English plane,
before it shot and hit the right engine. The Mosquito crashed near Willestrup Stream, about here about 2 km east of Oue Church.

Turski was killed because he bailed out only seconds before the plane hit the ground. He was found near a burial mound, close to the road Hobro-Hadsund, about here. Herrick left the Mosquito over Mariager Fjord, about here. His body was recovered later. Both of them were buried in Frederikshavn.

Bob Braham was shot down by Spreckels on 25 June 1944 at Ringkøbing. Braham became a POW till the end of the war. When they met in 1961 they also talked
about the plane shot down over Mariager Fjord. On that occasion Spreckels indicated to Braham view that the British airmen had put up a "brave fight before
crashing to their deaths". There was not at all any fight!
(Source: Jørgen Toubro: "Aerial battle" at Mariager Fjord, Historical Yearbook 2001 from the Historical Society of the County of Randers)   2 airmen.
See No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron - Wikipedia * Mosquito * Mosquito Photos * Google Map 14 Mosquitoes DK * Polish Air Forces in France and Great Britain
305 SQUADRON (Polish Air Force in Exile 1940-45) WHY 305 SQUADRON? * 21 Polish airmen buried in Denmark out of 36 Polish airmen shot down over Denmark.
Mosquito FB.V1 SM-T took off from RAF West Raynham at 21.47 hrs on 20 APR 1943. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this with Archive Report.) p327MACR