Teuge Dutch Military B wing course

13th to the 18th of April 2008

 

REMEMBERED: The memorial to seven RAF airmen whose plane was shot down in 1944 unveiled in Elspeet, the Netherlands

RAF bomber crew get fitting send-off
SERVICE: DUTCH TOWN HONOURS DOWNED AIRMEN  by JENNY OUSBEY

    Thousands of people lined the streets of a Dutch town to give airman Frank Burdett a hero’s send-off.
The townspeople of Elspeet, in the Netherlands, have never forgotten the seven RAF crewmen who lost their lives on February 20, 1944, when their plane was shot down by a Nazi soldier as it returned from a raid on German factories in Leipzig. On Saturday, the town was transformed for a service to the air heroes –including Leicester man Frank – with a fly past by Dutch Air Force, a parachute drop and a ceremony, ending with the unveiling of a memorial to the crew who lost their lives. Frank’s stepbrother, Donald Ford, 73, of Groby, said it was wonderful the airmen’s memory was honoured. He was hoping to go to the event, but could not travel after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in January. He said: “Frank was my stepmother
Rose’s only son, and she would be thrilled to know what they did in Elspeet.” Organiser Jaap Vermeer, 43, said: “It was a very special day because we had a memorial for the crew of the Lancaster bomber.“The school children have been learning all about the event and they have been reading a booklet about the soldiers in school. “They were very surprised to hear about it as the younger children don’t know so much
about the Second World War. “It’s very important to remember the bravery of the men – we wanted to honour them. Every year, I lay flowers on one of the graves – it is important to do that.” One of those that died are who is honoured here is Flight Engineer Frank Burden.
    Frank, who was born in Swan Street, near Woodgate, joined the RAF in July 1942. He trained as a flight engineer on Halifax and, later, Lancaster bombers. It was his job to monitor the engines, instruments and fuel transfer throughout the Lancaster’s flight. At the start of 1944, Frank joined 12 Squadron, a frontline
operational bomber unit based at RAF Wickenby, near Lincoln – part of a team of men who were barely out of their teens. Within a week of joining the squadron, Frank was flying his first mission, against the German town of Brunswick, on January 14. His active military career was to last little more than five weeks. On the night Frank died, the RAF’s plan was to bomb factories in Leipzig, Germany, but as the Lancaster crew were heading back to Wickenby, they were shot down. Frank is buried in Harderwijk, in the Netherlands.

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    This jump would also commemorate the agents, SAS troops and airmen who landed in the fields code named Rummy near the town of Elspeet . By dropping a door bundle by parachute we would honour the Air Despatchers who performed many of the clandestine drops carried out in this area in support of the Dutch resistance. In the bundle, solidly packed in a towel, was the painting " De Molen " (The Windmill) which was to be presented to the mayor of the town after the jump. To be historically correct all jumpers wore British uniform . Herve made the picture complete by jumping as a French SAS Para and Monique represented the ladies of the resistance. For a while it looked like this jump too would be cancelled due to high winds. As a backup we could jump with squares to show the many spectators at least some parachutes in the air. At the same time as this event we had two of our Dutch members jumping with the Marines on another charity event further up country. Operation Neptune 2 was to have been a water jump alongside Dutch Marines and would have raised money for one of the Children's charity schemes however due to high winds this was cancelled and so Frank and Willem hurried to the Rummy DZ to assist. The first thing they noticed were the winds were considerably lighter on our DZ . After the DZ party with Roy and Ron had arrived the wind meter showed that we could jump rounds , even though the wind was gusting above 10m/s . There was some soul searching but as it was a big area with plenty of overshoot the decision was made to give it a try. 
    Here's the story from Brord's side in the aircraft waiting for our word at Teuge DZ . At first it didn't look good. The standbys and cancels were given one after the other due to the strong winds of 12kts, gusting 18kts. At the last possible moment the wind died down and all suited up and boarded the aircraft for the jump at Elspeet.

 

 

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Tuesday we went to the South, made a jeep safari through part of the Negev-desert and had lunch in a Bedouin tent. For those who didn’t like the belly dancer there was opportunity to feed the camels.

The parade passed  straight through the celebrating crowd. In front Monique and Sylvia from Italy carrying the Freedom Jump 2008-banner. Then all the flags of the participating countries and behind the flags all delegations.

The banners had been taken along by the Pathfinder delegation and has been given to the National Paracentrum Teuge as a souvenir, where it hangs now in the hangar.   By Jasper Nales | TV footage | Click here to see the video By Jasper Nales in a stand alone player

 June saw us putting on an extra course by popular demand. Against my better judgement I organised the course only to have a lot of people pull out at the last minute. With one jumper coming all the way from Portugal we decided to run the course anyway. So with four jumpers, two club members, Ian Marshall, Lance and myself we turned up at Teuge to the usual friendly welcome.  The weather stayed pretty good for the early part of the week and this enabled everyone to complete the course. Wendy Baas, Herve Steimer and Marco de Pruyssenere made up the numbers and got a few jumps in with the course by Wednesday.

    Unfortunately on her second jump with the course Wendy landed in her usual clump of trees. Myself and Lance got to her and found her at tree top height.  We couldn't get to her but she was not hurt and we told her not to worry as we had contacted the fire brigade. A "Cherry picker" arrived at the edge of the wood about 20 minutes later but as it started to deploy there was a loud report and Wendy and the top ten feet of the tree came crashing down. It missed me and Dave Mote but struck Lance a glancing blow. Wendy hit hard and had problems breathing. Luckily she forced herself to control her breathing and remained still. Although in a lot of pain, we took her reserve off her harness and capwelled her canopy.We left her in her harness until the ambulance arrived and then helped the ambulance crew to get her in the vehicle.

    Everyone was worried for her so it was a relief when we found out later that she had got away with two fractures of her ankle and a hairline fracture of her spine. A very lucky lady. Both Ian and myself have broken our backs parachuting so we know its bloody painful but with proper care she will be as good as new in a few months.

    We travelled down to Arnhem on the Thursday to put the Parachute course in perspective. Our students had spent all week worrying about their parachutes. Would they open was the usual worry although being rip stop nylon all our jumpers are a lump of meat on the end of a Parachute. They will open know matter how bad an exit they make. They have a reserve chute which our WW2 jumpers didn't have.  In WW2 they jumped with no reserve and with a silk parachute that had a habit of generating enough static electricity to cause it to stick and Roman candle.  They dropped at 450 ft agl so that they did not get shot out of the air. Then once on the ground they fought for their lives. So what went through their minds? Which scared them the most? We then visited the Airborne cemetery at Oosterbek.  It definitely put the course in perspective. All that was left was to get the Airborne museum to stamp the log books of our jumpers to make it a bit more special and then it was back to Teuge. 

Friday saw the course dispersing with bolder, more confident parachute students clutching hard earned Dutch wings with promises to return for more jumps. Another successful course finishes so we now look forward to our next one in September. Welcome to our new members.Your now members of an elite group of men and women. Everyone and Emperor.

ED