Great map Nick. The crash site is located near the brick factory sout of the village. But I doubt you"ll find anything because debris were scattered over a large area. The pictures I would love are one of the Place were the brick factory is (or was ) , the former zandweg (don't know were that is or if it still exists) and the Vossenberg area. Maybe these places ring a bell?

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Vossenberg is a village east of Gilze, strange because Molenschot lays to the west.
I know about 2 brickfactorys by head without my archives and they lay west from Rijen (Vijf Eiken) and north of Dorst. Dorst is a village North West of Molenschot .... between Rijen and the city Breda.
Well I'm affraid its going to be a late night.... I'm looking for more info as we speak.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Skipper, I have done research on GoogleMaps.
I've spotted a "Zandstraat" (straat means road) indeed south of Molenschot but that road allmost lay in the village Chaam.
Close to that road there is a area called "Valkenberg" !!! Maybe you mis understood Vossenberg??

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

And BINGO.
I was wrong about the zandstraat and valkenberg, I presume. (!!!)

Damn this feels good! I got an copy of a map from 1811 - 1832
And there above the text Lage Heide you can hardly see... "steenbakkerij" What means stonebakery!

1811 - 1832


Here on my map from 1944. Here they call it "Pannenbakkerij". "Pannen" (=old language) means roof tile (in correct modern Dutch: "dakpannen").


On 13.9.1944, taken by the RAF.


And here a military map of today.


Now I am going to locate the Zandweg. And see if there is also something called Vossenberg.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Well, enough for tonight. Tomorrow I was going to search on some Flak positions here, but maybe I will take a look and make some pictures for you of the stonefactory. I can't promise you anything. But you will have them soon enough.
The library you mentioned is only open at a Teusday, but that is on newyears-day, stores are most often closed here on the 1st of January. I have send an email as you know to their website, so all we have to do is have some patience! Maybe the location near the stonefactory is mentioned as well in the book.

BTW. How is you're information written? (You can send me that in a PM if you like.) Because Zandweg can be a name of a road, but also it can be a road of sand/dirt ... Zand means in Dutch: sand. It can be misleading!

Goodnight,

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Thanks a lot Nick, this helps to figure things out. No surpise if the places are not toghether. The aircraft exploded in the sky and parts fell on al those areas including the base itself among yelling Flak soldiers who panicked when they saw burning steel fallling near their positions. On the raf picture you can notice a large white crater west of the brick factory. that sounds intriging.

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Ahh! Its like that. Hmmm, you want some pictures of Vossenberg? Of what exactly?
Can parts fly that far away? Vossenberg and Molenschot lay way ahead of eachother.
I think about 5 a 6 kilometres.

Last monday I did some airplane finds north of Nerhoven... (nothing special, just many aluminium parts and a unknown object) thats less than a kilometre of Vossenberg ....
And just north of Gilze (at the ending of my street) I found a big aluminium plate with black paint on it some months ago... I presume from a airplane.

If you know where I found the objects, you could say it approximately in one straight line from Vossenberg to Molenschoten, maybe a little bit above.
But I think many planes where hit in that area... and lose parts of material. So its almost impossible to prove.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

You're planecrash was on January 7th 1945 right Skipper?
The RAF picture is from 1944 so I think it is something else.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

January 7th 1944, not 1945 Nick that's why I was interested in the white spot on your 1944 picture. It's got to be the place I am looking for. Forget about Vossenberg. What I would like is a few pictures from the general landscape around these places. I would have modern pictures of the crash site, but also I could imagine how the topography is. The picture of Hulten, east of the runways, with the icing is excellent because these were the exact weather conditions on Jan 7th 1944, but it is on the wrong side. By seeing this pictures It would help me to understand what a surviving airman saw upon landing near Gilze-Rijen.

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Allright, than it could be possible!
Well, its not icing today, more raining. In a minute I'm going to spot some Flak locations and maybe search there for a while. Its not near the stonefactory but maybe I get there.

Regards,
Nick

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Nick I sent you a private message in your pm section.

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I'm glad you found the 'Dambuster' information of interest, Nick.

Here's a little more - it's good to remember some of these men.

Lewis Burpee came from Ottawa and served with Guy Gibson in 106 Squadron, so he was one of Gibson's 'inner circle' of trusted comrades. After flying 26 operations with 106 he was awarded the DFM. In September 1942 he married an English girl and shortly after joining 617 Squadron Burpee found that his wife was expecting their first child.

Burpee's Lancaster was part of the third reserve wave and took off to attack the Ruhr Dams from RAF Scampton at 00.11 hours, May 17th 1943. Flying at an altitude of 150ft, Lancaster AJ-S strayed slightly off course and was hit by ground fire from Gilze-Rijen. The Lancaster was seen to imitate Luftwaffe practice by switching its navigation lights on, but the aircraft burst into flames and crashed among buildings on the airfield site. There was then a massive explosion as Barnes Wallis' dam-busting mine exploded causing severe damage.

Burpee's widow left England for Canada to live with his parents, and his son, Lewis J Burpee Jnr was born on Christmas Eve.

A twisted propeller blade from the Lancaster can be seen at the Newark Aviation Museum in England.

This is a superb thread...keep it up !

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Martin, thats an impressive and interesting story! Soon I will look if I find something more about that event.

Skipper..... I made something for you today.

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Aha, now you are making me curious!

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Here you go, pictures I made today near the brickfactory... It still stands today but its not much. (more and old farm with stables) Hope you will enjoy.

Brickfactory, pictures taken by both sides of the road.






Overlooking the village Molenschot. You can see the "Heilige Anna" church in the town. This was the only church who lived trough ww2 here in the region.


Looking towards the airbase Gilze-Rijen, the road you see is called "Lijndonk".



And at last this is the spot where we have seen the "crater" on the RAF pictures ...

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

Wonderful pictures Nick, this is great. The Lijndonk has been tarted after the war and the brick factory is a farm with sheds nowadays. Thank you very much , this gives me a clear idea of the area . I am amazed by the fact that it is so close from the base and yet in the countyside.

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I knew there would be something waiting for my viewing pleasure while I was visiting ailing in-laws. thanks for the thread gents, Nick excellent now photos of times almost forgotten, some of the Dutch place names rang a bell to me.

of course as Skipper pointed out that FuG 16 made my mouth drop and then a big grin, may I ask approx where you found that nice piece of wonderful Ju 88C ? collection > that is just plain unique and wonderful .....let me see if I move a hunk of books of my shelves I could place a ? on it and ..........

please continue showing some of that buried treasure you are finding.

Great avatar as well friend ~

E ~

Hi Erich, I've wundert where were you?!

The location of the FuG16 I'll send you in PM. Because I'm not done searching there.

I just made some photo's of one of my spectacular finds. Soon comming.

Regards,
Nick

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

please post more as you find it Nick, really interested in the findings of what else there appears to be from a German a/c. received your pm

very cool ..........

E ~

Well here it is... A year ago in November I was searching in the woods near Rijen where a munitiondump was located in the war. Not the small stuff but the 2000kg bombs. After a while I found some shelters where these things were lying in. You can see them vaguely as you walk by.


After many hours and some small cartridjes and a lot of trash... I found this!!


... And look after cleaning.







I have asked on lot of forums, Dutch and german and send a lot of emails but nobody can tel me exactly what this object is for... It has something to do with a bombhatch... But what exactly is still a riddle for me? So information is wanted!! The text calls:
Schliessvorgang
Knopf eindrucken Hebel
gleichzeitig schliessen
Offnungsvorgang
Knopf 2mal eindrucken.

I know what it means in Dutch but I have a little trouble to translate it in English.
I'll give it a go.
Close ....
Push button, close the handle at the same time.
Open .....
Push button x 2

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Eine Lichtung im Walde wo die Sonne scheint.
Eingeschlossen durch Bäume sind wir gefangen,
in dieser Lichtung Gottes...

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