RNZAF Ramrod raid on Amsterdam. May 3rd 1943

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Alex,

Great piece of research! As you have shown, there is a lot of confusion about this mission.

For some information on the crash site of Ventura EG-O, see https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/1...ntura-EG-O.htm
and AJ200: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/4...ber-AJ-200.htm

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

487 RNZAF Squadrons home base was located at RAF Methwold at the time, which is in Norfolk, UK, about 35miles NorthEast of Cambridge. As was often the case, the squadron was a mix of commonwealth crew....with obvisously most of them from New Zealand, but also from Canada, UK and Australia.
487 was one of the Squadrons that took part in the highly successfull bombing raid on the Dutch Philips factory in Eindhoven on december 6th 1942.

Although the clip on YouTube shown below is about the Eindhoven mission, I have included it here as it includes rare footage of the sort of low-level flying used in the Ramrod raid:

"RAF Raid Holland In Daylight (1942)" - https://youtu.be/ExWCf4gWJvs

H.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Hanno! And thanks for posting the link to the youtube vid.....very interesting, especially when you see the damage to the planes at the end!

For some information on the crash site of Ventura EG-O, see https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/1...ntura-EG-O.htm
and AJ200: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/4...ber-AJ-200.htm

More to come.....those two are next

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AJ200 / EG-G was flying near Hoofddorp, when it was hit and a fire broke out. Sgt. Sharp gave the order to bail, but only Sgt. Gibson replied and jumped from the plane using his parachute. Unfortunately his parachute was damaged by German fire and Gibson was killed. Sharp couldn't open the escape hatch, but he was able to jump from the plane, when a piece of the plane broke off.. He quickly pulled the cord for his parachute. The plane crashed into the moat of "Fort Vijfhuizen"....one the many Dutch fortresses surrounding Amsterdam.
Eye witness accounts describe a large wave of water and mud could be seen miles away, when the plane crashed. Sharp was the only survivor and was taken prisoner.

The bodies of the other crew members were recovered and buried in Hoofddorp. The cemetery is not the cemetery near the city centre of Hoofddorp, but actually the cemetery just east of Hoofddorp and right next to the taxiway of Schiphol airport towards the "Polderbaan" runway. This is also the reason that the cemetery will eventually be removed. Hopefully the war casualties will find a proper new resting place! (apart from the 487sq crew, there are also 3 other Commonwealth graves, along with some graves of Dutch soldiers that died in 1940 while defending Schiphol)

Crew:
Pilot Sgt. J.D. Sharp
Observer Sgt. H. Gibson (RAF)
Wo ag Sgt. A. Stevens (RAF)
Air gunner Sgt. D.L. Rowland (RAF)

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AJ200 / EG-G
An attempt was done in 1976 to recover the plane from the moat, but only small pieces of the plane were found. Years later more pieces were found after cleaning out the area around the fortress. It seems most of the plane had already been removed in 1943 and presumably sold as scrap.
The recovered plane segments are on loan to the Crash museum in Aalsmeer. Sadly, they can't be viewed at the moment, due to a temporary display regarding the liberation in 1945.

Fort Vijfhuizen is now a display of art by various artists. I have heard the Fortress has a section of the Ventura with the painted roundel still visible, but I haven't been able to confirm this yet.

Vijfhuizen honors the crew in the street names in the village. There is a "Gibsonstraat", "Stevensweg", "Rowlandstraat" and "Vliegersplein", which is where my aunt lives. The "Stevensweg" runs along the edge of the park which now houses another monument.....the MH17 monument, for the Malaysian airlines flight 17 that was taken down by a rocket over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AE731 / EG-O was the next plane to be hit by a German fighter. The instrument panel was damaged and the cockpit windows completely shot to pieces. The plane was almost impossible to control and a fire broke out, at which point Pilot Tayler gave the order to bail. Taylor found his parachute to be peppered by German bullets and decided to go down with the plane, thinking the other 3 had already left the plane. When the plane dove down, it was suddenly possible to somewhat control the plane again and Taylor belly landed the plane at the eastern edge of Haarlem. Locals quickly rushed to the site where the plane landed and helped all crew members from the plane. Gunner George Tattam shortly died afterwards, having been hit by German bullets shortly before the plane hit the ground.

George Tattam was buried at the Bergen Cemetery, right next to his other 487sq comrads, Coshall and Sparkes.
Shapiro, Littlewood and Tayler were taken prisoner.

crew:
Pilot P/O. T.L.B. Taylor
Observer P/O. M.B. Shapiro (RAF)
Wireless op Sgt. L.J. Littlewood (RAF)
Air gunner Sgt. G.T. Tattam (RAF)

The Log book of George Tattam is on display at "Fort Veldhuis in Heemskerk" (picture)

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ventura AE731 / EG-O

The location of the belly landing is given as "Zomerweg, Haarlem". Today the Zomerweg has disappeared and the Polder area has now been turned into a large residential area (Schalkwijk). However, its known that the plane landed at the Zomerweg, next to a community garden complex "Ons Buiten", which still exists today! At the entrance of "Ons Buiten" there is a monument with a display sign.
The prop blade is not one of the actual ventura, but a WW2 blade that was found in the North sea.

The picture attached shows the actual Ventura after the belly landing (picture from "Ons Buiten"). The plane remained at the site for at least a week, which meant a lot of locals came to have a look.

Also attached is a picture of a small piece of remaining Polder near the site. This is what most of the area would have looked like in 1943.

Alex

[Mike K]

Excellent research Alex

The RAF seemed to persist with daylight raids on specific targets despite the horrific high losses of aircrew. Reminds me of the disastrous daylight raid when a whole squadron of Blenheims was shot down early in the war while on a daytime raid. You would have thought that the powers in command would have learnt something from the earlier disasters but apparently not.
The England test cricketer Bill Edrich was a Blenheim pilot , his book describes daylight raids he flew in attacking enemy shipping with high RAF casualties , the German flak was muderous .