Mosquito PZ259, 464.Sqdn

[Heuser]

Gentlemen,

Mosquito PZ259 of 464.Sqdn failed to return during the night from 08. to 09.03.1945.

F/L A.C. Stark and his navigator Sgt. S.A. Ancell perished in the crash, their graves are now located in Hannover.

The burial location indicates a crash somewhere in the area Limburg - Giessen, N of Frankfurt. Is anything known about the initial burial location or a crashside? There is no relating information in German records available and Google offers "Hit by AAA and bellylanded Melsbroek". The latter makes no sense - if an a/c came down in Belgium in march 1945, the crew should not be buried in Hannover...

Thanks in advance and best regards

Heuser

[John Williams]

Hi Heuser,

The history of 464 Sqn 'The Gestapo Hunters' only makes a brief entry into their loss. 'B y Marech ,the main ground focus was on crossing the Rhine and the main air focus was on interdicition ahead of the front. On the 8th, F/L Alexander Charles'Jack' Stark RAFVR 48313 and Sgt Sidney Arthur Ancell RAFVR 1802572 in PZ259 SB-X were shot down over the Rhine while attacking enemy transport. The crew were on their fifth sortie'.

Sorry it does not help you much and as both were English our records in Australia will not have their service files.

Regards,

John.

[Heuser]

Hi John,

thank you very much for your additional informations! I have already checked the availabe records of the Australian War Memorial, wich contain not much infos about this loss.

As mentioned, there is no enty in the German Luftgau reports nor the air crashes lists.

The only hint is the burial location in Hannover. If this loss occured (roughly) S of the line Limburg - Fulda, the crew would have been buried in Dürnbach, a crash location W of Limburg would have caused a transfer to Rheinberg.

This has something to do with the area of responsibility of the regarding MRES in thr different occupation zones in Germany after WW 2. In this case the crew should have been recovered by 3. MRES in late 1946.

Best regards,

Alexander

[John Williams]

Hi Alexander,

The only other thought is they may have been recovered by the Yanks and moved to one of their cemeteries and when it was realised that they were in fact English sent to the nearest British War Cemetery (Hanover)?

Just a thought,

Regards,

John.

[Heuser]

Hi John,

of course, this could be a possibility; despite the Americans did a great job in recovering their KIA, some of the Commonwealth war dead had some strange posthumous journeys if recovered by an US-team.

Fortunately these cases seems to be limited, but a good example for such a journey is the crew of Mossie MM650 (157.Sqdn), which crashed near Ahrweiler, was recoverd and buried upon a US-cemetary near Kreuznach and transferred back to Rheinberg...

Unfortunately for todays historians and sometimes even relatives, the regarding reports are only available for the USAAF and RAAF...

Regards

Alexander