Clair D. Vander Schaaf                                                                               Updated: 15 JUN 2018

Airman: u050048.htm Surname: Schaaf Init: CDV Rank: 2ndLt Service: USAAF Sqdn: 406

P_link: p309r.htm Plane: B24 42-40530 Operation: Drop in DK Crash_site: Vognbjerg at Skjern

Crash_d: d070544 Buried_d: b120544 C_link: c050.htm At_Next: Lemvig

  "Natten til den 7. maj 1944 nedkastede "Liberator" B-24DSA (B24 42-40530) en sending våben til den danske modstandsbevægelse på en plads ved Rugård
(Rugaard Gods  her, Paddesøvej 7, 5474 Veflinge) på Fyn.

Under returflyvningen over Jylland blev flyet ramt af tysk flak, brød i brand og nedstyrtede nordvest for Skjern." (FAF)
Flystyrtet var her, overblik her og her omkring 400 m nord for Kvembjergevej 15, 6900 Skjern. (Kilde: Keld Vinther).

Flyets navigatør, 2nd Lt Clair Vander Schaaf må være omkommet under faldskærmsudspring. (Skærmen foldede sig ikke ud i tide.) Han blev begravet i Lemvig
den 12. maj 1944 af den tyske værnemagt.

Fra en amerikansk rapport gengivet i FAF s. 18:
"Lt Holmes så fra sit udsigtspunkt i næsen tydeligt, at kun en enkelt kanon afgav skud, og at der kun blev afgivet i alt 5 skud."

Som andre amerikanske flyvere begravet i Lemvig blev han den 4. maj 1948 gravet op og overført til Ardennes American Cemetery i Belgien. (Kilde: AOD)
Der er intet synligt minde for dem i Lemvig.
Hans navn er ikke i registret hos ABMC, så mest sandsynligt blev han begravet på en privat kirkegård i USA.

69 omkomne flyvere fra dette og 14 andre fly mindes på Mindetavlen i Rebild. De mistede livet under nedkastningsoperationer til modstandsbevægelsen.
Af samme grund mindes de i London. Se 69 flyvere - St. Clement Danes. Se Google Map Rebild med 15 fly mistet med tab af 69 liv + 3 fly mistet uden tab af liv.
8 flyvere.

 On the night before 7 May 1944 "Liberator" B-24DSA (B24 42-40530) dropped a load of weapons for the Danish resistance movement at a site at the
Rugaard estate
(Rugaard Gods here, Paddesøvej 7, DK-5474 Veflinge) on Fyn.

The plane was hit by German flak, burst into flames and crashed northwest of Skjern on the return flight over Jutland. (FAF) 
The air crash was here, overview here and here about 400 m north of Kvembjergevej 15, 6900 Skjern. (Source: Keld Vinther)

Navigator, 2nd Lt Clair Vander Schaaf must have perished when he hit the ground. (His parachute did not open up in time.) He was buried in Lemvig by the German
Wehrmacht on 12 May 1944. (Source: FAF)

From an American report quoted in FAF p. 18:
"Lt Holmes, from his vantage point in the nose, saw clearly that only one gun was firing and that a total of five bursts were fired."

Like other American airmen buried in Lemvig he was disinterred and taken to Ardennes American Cemetery in BELGIUM on 4 May 1948. (Source: AOD)
There is no memorial to them in Lemvig.
His name is not in the ABMC records, so most likely he was buried in a private cemetery in the U.S.A.

69 perished airmen from this and 14 other planes are commemorated on the Memorial Plaque in Rebild. They lost their lives in supply operations to the Danish resistance. For the same reason they are commemorated in London. See 69 airmen - St. Clement Danes. See Google Map Rebild with 15 + 3 planes lost.

This B-24 from 406 BS, 801 BG, 8 AF took off from RAF HarringtonHarrington Aviation Museum has more about the 801st / 492nd Bomb Group. 8 airmen.