Meerkoetenweg 18, Lelystad

 

In the night of 16 to 17 September 1942, Short Stirling BF353, a four-engined bomber, crashed into the IJsselmeer at this location. The aircraft of 15 Squadron had departed from Bourn base for an attack on Essen. The cause of the crash is unknown, there is no claim from a night fighter in this area. All seven crew members were killed. In June 1967 and April 1971, remains of the aircraft were recovered.

​

Crew

• Pilot: Leonard William O'Hara, Pilot Officer, age 24

• Navigator: Ronald John Mumford, Sergeant, age 26

• Bombardier: Thomas Clarence Field Orr, Sergeant, age 28

• Flight Engineer: Leon Cowen, Sergeant, age 26

• Radio operator/gunner: Robert Edwin Evans, Sergeant, age 22

• Dorsal turret gunner: William Earnest Johnson, Sergeant, age 29

• Tail gunner: Kenneth Forster, Flight Sergeant, age 24

​

Forster, Orr and Cowen are buried at the Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats in Amsterdam. Evans is buried in the general cemetery in Harderwijk. The remains of O'Hara, Mumford and Johnson have never been found or identified and their names are on the Commonwealth Air Forces Missing Memorial in Runnymede, England. O'Hara was an American who had enlisted in the Royal Air Force.