Eye-witness Tells Of Crash In Which Guy Gibson Died

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28265, 1 May 1957, Page 9

Eye-witness Tells Of Crash In Which Guy Gibson Died

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, April 30. A 28-year-old Dutch immigrant today gave an eye-witness account of the crash in which WingCommander Guy Gibson, V.C., the leader of 617 Squadron, R.A.F., the famous “Dam Busters” lost his life. Mr John Vermeulen, the immigrant, said he watched Gibson’s aircraft fly low over Steenbergen, a village in south-west Holland, and crash in flames in a field two miles away. Three bodies were recovered from the aircraft. One was Gibson’s. Mr Vermuelen said watchers in the village believed Gibson was conscious and was gliding his burning bomber deliberately away from the village. An escape hatch in the aircraft was open, and a parachute was jammed in it, indicating that the crew had attempted to parachute to safety. Villagers and resistance workers reached the crash before the Germans, who were stationed in the village. One body was spread across a barbed wire fence, and

the other two were lying near the wreckage. “We did not know until much later who Gibson was; that his name was so honoured in England,” said Mr Vermuelen. Maps found ; n the wreckage indicated that the aircraft was hit in the vicinity of Hanover. The impression of Mr Vermeulen and others was that the crew were wounded and knocked unconscious by the shell which struck the aircraft. The plane came towards the village in a slow glide, and then appeared to come under control when it seemed likely to crash on the houses. It straightened up slightly, low over the outskirts of the village, skimmed the roofs of the houses and then nosed down into the field in which it crashed and exploded. Mr Vermuelen said the Germans permitted the villagers to bury the bodies three days later, but banned any display. In spite of this, however, most of the villagers attended, and boy scouts paraded. Gibson was buried in the cemetery at Steenbergen,

and his body had remained there undisturbed until Mr Vermeulen left for New Zealand five years