Vossemeerdijk 6, Dronten

 

In the evening of 27 November 1944 De Havilland Mosquito ML979, a twin-engined bomber of the British 109 Squadron, crashed near this location. The aircraft departed from Little Staughton home base at 6:38 PM for a mission to Neuss. Mechanical problems caused the left engine to catch fire. The pilot succeeded in evacuating the aircraft by parachute, but the navigator did not.

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Crew

• Pilot: Maurice Williamson (DFC), Flight Lieutenant, age 33

• Navigator: Alfred Edward Kitchen (DFC), Flying Officer, age 24

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Williamson landed with his parachute in the water of the IJsselmeer, but managed to reach the shore and was taken prisoner. Kitchen's body was recovered on March 4, 1945 and buried in the general cemetery in Kampen.

Dronten resident Gert Talens has investigated what exactly happened here. He has been in contact with the Kitchen and Williamson families. The story behind this crash can be found atwww.gertspeelt.com/kitchen.