The story of Mosquito MK XVI E and its crew, Pilot, Pilot Officer Raymond Harington and Navigator, Sergeant A. E. Winwood.
By CHRISTIAN HOUMARK HAMMER, Buen 47, Stagstrup. First published in Historical Yearbook 1986 for Thy and V. Han District.

The Mosquito was a twin-engined fighter-bomber, very advanced for that time. It had a powerful armament: Four 20mm cannons and four machine guns - and it could
carry about two tons of bombs. It could fly at about 650 km/h. Mosquitos were frequently seen over Denmark during the last months of the war.

Now we are in 1986. 41 years have passed since 1945, the last year of the war. How you now read and take in this event will depend on your background. If you have experienced the Occupation you may more easily sense the special atmosphere.

This was a chain of lucky events in all situations. The drama may compete with the series on television: "Escape Routes in Europe". During the war there were many negative events, but this must absolutely be one of the positive events. Only a few people know a little about what happened, and then only about what happened in
their own section. Those were the terms at that time. That is why I am now trying to gather up the threads.

The action was made on the initiative of Richardt Dam-Jensen, then a student of Ranum College of Education, which had been closed by the Germans. That is why he was then a substitute at Bedsted School. He was attached to our group of resistance in the central part of Thy, so the escape route went through this area. It is a bit funny that just after the liberation Dam-Jensen was told off by one of the leaders of the resistance movement in the southern part of Thy, because he had been
working in their district.

Richardt Dam-Jensen, a senior teacher in Galten, received a medal from General Eisenhower for his effort. In 1945 he wrote about his part of the course of events,
and he kindly let me have his report.

The pilot of the plane which crash landed - Raymond Harington, an architect in Tenterden, Kent - has been very helpful. He sent me a report about how he and
Sergeant Winwood experienced the events on the escape route, with all details in the entire operation.

Farmer Henry Christensen, then Harringgaard, now Vildsund and Mrs. Anna Møller, Monopol, Thisted have also contributed with information, so all details are kept.

First Richardt Dam-Jensen's report: On Tursday 5 April 1945 at about 16.00 a number of British planes at full speed passed over the Bedsted area at a very low
altitude. A former schoolfriend, Ernfred Østergaard, then a shop assistent in Bedsted Co-op, now a manufacturer in Herning, came at about 18.00 and related that a
plane might have crashed at Tandrup. At once we took our bikes and rode down there.

A British aircraft had crash landed in a field south west of Tandrup, about 100 m from Jens (Skaarup) Jensen's farm. The plane was on fire. A number of people were gathered around the aircraft. A machine cannon  fired shots due to the heat, so it was a little dangerous to stay around. From the conversation we learned that the two airmen had got some straw from Jens Jensen, had put it under the wings of the plane and lit a fire. Then they had hurried away in the direction of Tandrup.

Then we rode on our bikes down to the farm. Ernfred stayed at the barn. As a shop assistant he might easily be recognized. I went to the farm house. After a long conversation, and after I had promised to return after the war and tell them who I really was - my identity card said Svend Hansen - and because the Lützhøfts had no connection with the resistance movement, I was informed that the two airmen were in the field about 500 m away between two haystacks. They had had a little food
and they had been told to get away on their own, as it was likely that the Germans would search Tandrup.

Ernfred and I then cycled back to Bedsted, as I had to call taxicab owner Peter Nielsen, Skjoldborg, so that he could fetch us in the night. We knew that the operator
of the telephone central in Bedsted, Mrs. Marrebæk, was one we could trust, so we told her about the case, and she could tell us that she had listened to German telephone conversations and heard that German soldiers were on their way from Snedsted. We figured that they were heading for the area around Tandrup, so we
were in a hurry. I arranged with Peter Nielsen that he was to be at Bedsted Co-op at midnight.

Then we cycled back to Tandrup again, left our bikes and went into the field to the haystacks. It took a while till the Englishmen revealed themselves. We nearly
thought that they had already left the place. However, suddenly they came crawling out, nearly crying for joy because we could help them. At 21.45 we started on
our tour from the haystacks across the fields and along a stream to the area around Morup Mill, and from there to Bedsted Churchyard where we hid the airmen.
At a certain time we were very close to the Germans, but then Raymond took charge and made us take cover. Later the tour has been measured to about 8 km.

While the airmen stayed in the churchyard, we ran back to Bedsted Stationsby to get some civilian clothes. As arranged we met Peter Nielsen at midnight.
Immediately we drove to the churchyard where we fetched the airmen after they had put some civilian clothes over their uniforms. Peter Nielsen said that we could definitely not drive to Skjoldborg via Hassing, as he had been stopped twice on the road to Bedsted.

This shows that Peter Nielsen was a cold-blooded man: We decided to cross the railway line in Bedsted opposite the inn, which was occupied by the Germans. By chance Peter Nielsen knew that the Major who resided here was not in Bedsted that day, so he drove to the sentry at the entrance to the inn. He stopped and asked
for the Major. The sentry just shook his head and we drove to the crossing of the railway line. The guard there had seen us stop at the German HQ. When Peter
Nielsen rolled down the window and said "Alles gut" they waved us through while they lit into the car. Now we thought that we had made it, but about 500 m further
ahead of us there were more guards waving with red flashlights. Peter then  took a road to a farm, drove around it and through a kitchen garden into a field of grass,
across it to an earth road and on to another road leading to the area around Visby. From there we drove along a number of side roads - over Villerslev, Skyum,
Stagstrup Church, Sundby Mission House and Møgelvang to Skjoldborg, where Peter Nielsen's wife and my mother were waiting for us with a proper meal at 2.30 in
the night.

As arranged with my father, who was the manager of the cooperative store and the chairman of the parish council, we then drove the Englishmen to Skjoldborg
Rectory where the Reverend Dahl Hansen promised to hide them till the afternoon of the next day. Then Peter Nielsen and I were to take them somewhere else.

The airmen then moved into a guest room in the rectory late at night, but the maid had not been informed. When she happened to open the door in the morning
and saw the young men, she was terrified. She thought that they were uninvited guests, so the Vicar hastily invented a story to cope with the situation.

This is the end of the account from Richard Dam-Jensen.

On Friday 6 April Peter Nielsen drove the airmen to Harring to Henry Christensen who lived alone on a farm in West Harring next to the railway line. Henry's late wife,
then fiancée, Helene came to cook for them, so conditions ought to be ideal. But the stay here was cut short. The reason was that a member of the resistance
movement with the code name "Dige" had not been told that this place was off limits.

The railway line ran close to the farm as already mentioned. On Saturday 7 April in the middle of the afternoon Henry had an errand in Snedsted, but he had not
cycled far until the railway line was blown up next to him and just in front of a train with German soldiers. They swarmed out of the train and there was total confusion.
Of course Henry was stopped by the Germans, but to put them on the wrong track he told them that he had seen some persons running in the direction of Hørsted
Moor. Of course it was not correct, but now he was let off by the Germans. He was aware that the airmen had to be moved as soon as possible.

As he did not have a telephone he cycled down to Fibiger, "Øland" in a hurry, who had a contact to reporter Holger Hebsgaard, Thisted Amtsavis. Holger Hebsgaard
was the town leader in Thisted, and in a short time Peter Nielsen took "Boysen" to Henry Christensen's farm. "Boysen" was one of the three instructors who were
staying at Eigil Møller's, Monopol.

The Englishmen wore uniforms under their civilian clothes, but "Boysen" ordered them to take off their uniforms in spite of their protests. The car raced to Thisted.
Henry Christensen hurried to the hayloft and buried the uniforms in the hay. It was just in time, as the Germans were at his door when he came down.

Peter Nielsen handed over the Englishmen to Mrs. Anna Møller, who was alone at home in their private residence on Fayes Allé. The three instructors who were
working in the area were also staying here under the code names "Boysen", "Bent" and "John".

However, there was a problem that had to be dealt with as soon as possible. The airmen had no identity cards. Everyone had to have an identity card to enable the Germans to check people. Holger Hebsgaard arrived together with the Englishmen and he handled the case in this way: In a family album at Mrs. Møller's a couple of photos were found to resemble the airmen quite well. Holger Hebsgaard then went downtown to have two identity cards made with these photos. When Mrs. Møllers's husband Eigil Møller came home, he thought that the airmen were poorly dressed in their old clothes, so he took them to the shop and dressed them from head to foot.

Then "Boysen" accompanied the Englishmen to Nykøbing. At the bridge Vildsundbroen the traffic was checked by the German guard, but "Boysen" made a show to
divert the attention from the Englishmen. He grumbled in German over the delay and they smoothly passed the checkpoint. Mrs. Møller was very nervous for how the
tour would pass off, but on the arrival at Nykøbing "Boysen" made a telephone call and told her that "Grandma" had safely arrived!

"Boysen" was the later doctor Orla Klitbjerg Nielsen, Egaa, Aarhus. He is dead now. "John" was doctor Jørgen Frostholm, Aalborg. "Bent" is now manufacturer Tykjær, Silkeborg. In the evening the Englishmen were accommodated at the "Markvorsens Hotel" in Nykøbing. The chambermaid would have liked to talk to the nice young
men. She did not understand why it was impossible to make them say a word.

"Baes", Captain Ejby Nielsen, the military leader of Thy, Mors and the Han District was staying at the hotel. He scrapped the usle identity cards, and the following day
the airmen were photographed, issued with new identity cards and taken to bookseller Niels Schmidt's house in an allotment garden. Here they stayed till the next transport to Aalborg by train via Hvalpsund and with a companion.

Here Pilot, Lieutenant Harington's account starts:
(Taken from the Danish version in Flugtrute Thy-Stockholm-Scotland and translated back into English by AS, www.airmen.dk)

In Nykøbing we were now able to wander about the town and harbour, where we saw German flak ships with stencils of twin-engined aircraft on some of their superstructures and funnels. We were shown a cellar full of weapons dropped by the RAF. We saw some German soldiers who were cleaning the guns on patrol
boats lying at anchor in the harbour, presumably the same who had shot at our squadron a couple of days earlier. They had a number of aircraft silhouettes painted
on the funnel. By now we felt quite at home in Denmark. The next leg of our trip was by ferry and train to Aalborg.

At Aalborg the station was very busy with military and naval personnel hurrying for trains. We were handed over to "Jacob", another member of the resistance who
took us to the office of Lawyer Svend Andersen.

We were guests for about 8 days at Svend Andersen's, but he and all of his family had to make a rapid departure. A Resistance man had been picked up in the town square. We were moved to an apartment before we were driven to Strandby by Carl Petersen and some other people.

Just Carl Pedersen is the manager of a marine store in Aalborg. I visited him in 1960 after Herluf Aaen had told me that he had driven us from Aalborg to Strandby on
the last part of our final leg of our secret journey across Jutland. He did not remember me in person, but he remembered the tour when I stated that he had swayed
with the car and nearly - totally on purpose - ran into a German soldier.

In Strandby we stayed with a teacher while we waited for a suitable night when we could be transferred to a fishing vessel. I remember having seen British aircraft on operations in the Frederikshavn area.

The last station on our journey in Denmark was Herluf Aaen and his family. In Strandby everyone knows the Aaens. We stayed with them in 1960. Then Herluf Aaen's
old parents were still alive and his father remembered that we were telling jokes to each other in 1945, even if none of us spoke the language of the other.

Now Herluf Aaen is dead, but he was the skipper of the fishing vessel "Henny" FN 23, Strandby. With that he carried out many transports for the resistance movement. We were hidden in a small room for sails and in mid Kattegat we were transferred to a larger vessel sailed by Herluf's friend Andreas. I do not know his family name.
(This vessel was "Mercur", the flagship of the Danish Help Service. Besides the two airmen there were nine other refugees on board. CHH)

Andreas sailed us to Gothenburg where we arrived on 24 April 1945. We went to the British Consulate in Gothenburg and on to Stockholm. From here we flew in a
Dakota transport aircraft to Leuchars in Scotland where we arrived on 2 May 1945.

Navigator Bert Winwood and I have kept in touch since then. He lives in Birmingham, but he hopes to move closer to London in the near future. Unfortunately he was unable to join me and my wife to Denmark in 1960. On that journey we were together with a friend of mine, also a teacher of architecture.

For him it was a study tour to see the outstanding architecture achieved in Denmark since the war. Of course that was also very interesting for me, but of course the
main purpose was to contact as many as possible of the people who assisted Winwood and me. Actually I was my friend's guest on the journey where we drove in his
car with his wife and my wife, so I had to limit the time that I could spend with my Danish friends.

Extract from Lieutenant Harington's report:
(Taken from the Danish version in Flugtrute Thy-Stockholm-Scotland and translated back into English by AS, www.airmen.dk)

Date of Operation: 5 April 1945.
Mission: To attack a convoy in the Kattegat carrying German troops and war materials - Norway-Denmark. Three vessels were destroyed and four severely damaged. Three of our aircraft are missing after the mission.
Aircraft: Mosquito MK XVI F from 235 Squadron, Banff Strike Wing, Coastal Command.
Leader of the formation: Wing Commander Simmonds.
Flight Commander: Squadron Leader Clayton Graham.
Pilot: 188947 Flying Officer Harington, R.K.
Navigator: Flight Sergeant Winwood, A.E.
Take-off from Banff at 1200 hrs. Course 0.95^o
Took fire from German flak west of Thisted and shot back. Crossed Denmark at a very low altitude and then headed south to attack the convoy at app. 1500 hrs. 
We (Harington's aircraft) attacked an armed escort vessel which blew up later. Then we flew back in a tight formation at a very low altitude on the opposite course. Encountered heavy flak from German Marine vessels at Nykøbing. The aircraft in front of us took a sharp evasive action and I presume that we hit his slipstream at
a very unfortunate moment where we were very near the ground. My aircraft seemed to graze the ground, and the port engine and propeller were damaged. I nearly
lost control of the aircraft, which was now pulled asymmetric as the port engine did not react to the throttle. Smoke and glycol were streaming from it. I think that
the radiator tank had been destroyed and this made the engine overheat. I decided to force land at the sight of a suitable flat field. It happened at about 1530 hrs.

Having buried all documents and set fire to the aircraft we tried to find out where we were, but none of the local residents who had shown up spoke English. The
aircraft was burning and suddenly the cannons were fired due to the heat. We imagined that the Germans in the neighbourhood might hear the noise, and we hurried
away from the plane.

Here we met Mrs. Lützhøft who spoke English excellently. She advised us not to change into civilian clothes. She showed us to a stack in the field, and in the evening she brought us food. Later in the evening we were contacted by two members of the Danish resistance movement, Richard Dam-Jensen and Ernfred Østergaard.

This is the end of the account from former Pilot Officer, now an architect and a teacher at a school for architects, Raymond Harington.

Right after 5 April 1945 the relatives of Raymond Harington and Bert Winwood were informed that the plane had been shot down over Denmark and that the two
airmen were missing. But Toldstrup's HQ worked efficiently and had a good connection with London. They had also time to show consideration for people, so only a
short time later the two families had telegrammes classified SECRET from the British Ministry of Defence stating that the two airmen were safe in Denmark. There
was also a request to keep this information secret. Otherwise the Danes might be put in danger.

As you see from this account many persons have been involved in this journey through the occupied Jutland. It is impossible to mention everyone, but one of the more outstanding helpers is "Jakob" who received the two airmen at Aalborg Railway Station.

I succeeded in getting in touch with "Jakob" here in the spring of 1986. We had a long conversation and at the end of it he offered to send me an account he had
written. From this I allow myself to mention some data.

At the age of 22 "Jakob" was a volunteer in 1939-40, when Russia assaulted Finland. After the end of that war he resumed his work as the leader of a troop of
Y.M.C.A. Scouts in Frederiksberg. One of his scout friends was the later Prime Minister Poul Hartling. Together with other scout friends he was a member of the
first resistance group in Copenhagen to take orders directly from the chief agent of the SOE in Denmark Flemming B. Muus. As soon as May 1943 "Jakob" was
arrested by the Germans, but he was liberated by the resistance movement on 29 December 1944, when the prison chaplain had smuggled weapons in to the
prisoners.

On New Year's Eve 1944 "Jakob" arrived at Aalborg. Near the railway station he was to meet a contact. This contact person, Carl Petersen, was to have a newspaper under his left arm and a pipe in his mouth with the pipe bowl turning down. Everything went well and it was not long till "Jakob" was again absorbed in illegal work,
this time in North Jutland.

He took charge of 3rd Company directly under Toldstrup and established a connection to "Nybo", the leader of the escape routes to and from Sweden. When "Nybo"
and "Jakob" had refugees who had to go on to Sweden, all of the contact organization started. There was a lot of talk about "furs" so that the conversation to
outsiders sounded like a fur deal. "Jakob" alias Knud Dyhr Nielsen now lives in Bjerringbro.

As a conclusion I want to quote from the very kind letter sent to me together with the report he handed over to me:
"Winwood and I are very grateful for the assistance we received then, from the very first contact with Folmer and Anne Lützhøft and Richardt Dam-Jensen and
Ernfred Østergaard to the last hiding place in Herluf Aaen's house in Strandby. Everything was carried out with professional skill and a good sense of humour.
I will never forget that experience!"

(Source: Historical Yearbook for Thy, Mors and West Han District 1986, pp. 32-41)