Zeebiesweg 25, Lelystad

 

On the return flight from target Hanover to home base Wyton in the night of 11 to 12 February 1941 Vickers Wellington T2702, a twin-engined bomber, of 15 Squadron was sighted by a German night fighter. “15 kilometers west of Nunspeet” the aircraft was hit at 23:35 by the fire of Hauptmann Walter Ehle. It was his fifth win. Despite the damage sustained, the pilot of the Wellington managed to make an emergency landing on the frozen IJsselmeer.

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Crew

• Pilot: William Robert Garrioch, Sergeant, age 21

• Co-pilot: William Hansford Jordan, Sergeant, age 22

• Navigator: Robert Frederick Beioley, Sergeant, age 21

• Radio operator/gunner: Hardie George Hedge, Sergeant, age 21

• Nose gunner: Glyndwr Reardon, Sergeant, age 19

• Tail Gunner: John Hall, Sergeant, age 24

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Reardon was killed by the fire of the German night fighter. When the wreck was salvaged in 1967, his remains were found and subsequently buried in the Jonkerbos cemetery in Nijmegen. The other five crew members managed to leave the wreckage of their aircraft and reach the coast through the ice. They were immediately taken prisoner.