Memorial for Canberra Crew unveiled in Xanten, Germany

Hello Wendy,
I wrote a short report about your visit to the museum.
Steve’s photos are there as well.
http://www.lokalkompass.de/weeze/kultur/angehoerige-von-canberra-absturzopfern-im-royal-air-force-museum-d580193.html
And it is on our webpage:
https://sites.google.com/site/raflaarbruch/news-2015/news-2015
Thanks for your visit and the donation.

Thank you to all the good people who have contributed information to this forum which has produced such a good result. I am pleased to say that the families of both Keith Holmes (pilot) and Chris King (navigator) are now in contact with Ludger Rodermond, the gentleman who was responsible for the creation of the memorial to Keith and Chris in his role with the “Heimat und Bürgerverein” (Home And Citizen Association). Ludger was a six year old boy attending the village school on the day of the crash and he still has vivid memories of the sound of the plane rumbling over the school’s roof before it crashed. After the heroic efforts of the aircrew to avoid the school, Ludger was determined that they should never be forgotten and 40 years after the accident the memorial was unveiled.

My husband and I will be going to Germany in September 2015 to meet Ludger, his family and friends and to see the memorial. Patricia Young (older sister) and Helen Young (niece) of Chris, with whom I have only just made contact (due to the existence of this forum), hope to go to Germany in 2016 with other family members. Both visits will be bittersweet but will hopefully bring some closure to us all.

Wendy Holmes
Sister of Flying Officer Keith Holmes

Hello Peter

Thank you so much for all your efforts on my behalf.

I will compose a note to send to the society but my German is very limited so I’ll use an on-line translation service rather than assume the English will be understood. I’ll let you know what I find out and, if I may, would like to keep in touch with you so when Dave and I get over to Germany, I can thank you in person.

You asked where Keith lived when he was at RAF Laarbruch and, as far as I know, he lived in the Officers’ Mess. I think that was where we gathered with his friends and colleagues after his funeral but I may be wrong, it was an emotional day and my memory is rather blurred.

Kindest regards,

Wendy

Dear Wendy,

I was at the site this morning and took some pictures. Before I left I found out via the internet that the Canberra crashed “…at the end of the Fischerstrasse…” in Lüttingen so I was able to get a little prepared for the trip. I like to do this kind of thing before my family gets up, so I can have breakfast with them after my return 🙂
I arrived in Lüttingen at around eight on this VERY foggy autumn-morning. My sat-nav directing me I drove down the Fischerstraße and a cyclist approached me so I asked him if he could tell me where the memorial was. I was just about there. I parked the car and the cyclist directed me down a narrow foot-path and after a few hundred meters to the right was the site.

Here are some pictures:

The yellow circle gives you the site of the crash:

I was not Aware that yesterday marked the 42nd anniversary of the accident. I could tell at least two memorial services have been held at the site, RAF officials were present at both. Surely one would imagine that the next of kin would be the first to be informed about events like these happening by the RAF. If you could give me the address where Keith lived at Laarbruch perhaps I can take some pictures there too.

The memorial was erected by the “Heimat- und Bürgerverein Lüttingen” which is a society that deals with the local history as well as the wellfare of the community. They have a homepage here: http://www.hbv-luettingen.de/

You can find contact details here: http://www.rathaus-xanten.de/C12574EA003BA43F/HTML/80F78EE6502AD758C12574EA003BB1C1?opendocument

Here is Canberra WT 366 (courtesy of Canberra-Gallery)

If I can be of any further assistance don’t hesitate to let me know.

Kind regards

Peter

Hello Peter

Thank you so much for your quick response. I didn’t really expect to hear from anyone but it is very timely that you answered when you did as today is the 42nd anniversary of Keith’s accident, a date etched in my memory as you can imagine. I will look forward to any more information you are able to find.

I would like to thank our friend Martin Evans (ex RAF Wing Commander) for his help with this venture. Dave (my husband) and I were visiting Martin and his family in England in September and while there we visited the museum at RAF Cosford. This prompted me to see if I could find out what happened to No. 16 Squadron and Martin directed me to this website where we found the news of the memorial. If it wasn’t for his knowledge, I would never have known about the memorial.

Wendy

Wendy,

thank you very much for joining us and for your wonderful message. I’ll see if I can get to the site tomorrow and take some pictures of the board; surely there will be a name of an organization or such who put the memorial up. Should I get some contact-details I’ll pass these on to you by pm.

Kind regards
Peter

I am the sister of Keith “Sonny” Holmes and have only just found out about this well deserved memorial to Keith and Chris.

I was 20 when Keith died and have always regarded him as my hero, though it is only now that I know the full details of the accident and just how heroic he was. It is good to know that even after 40 years so many people felt the need to recognize the bravery of Keith and Chris by creating the memorial. At the time of the crash, the RAF gave us very little information as to the circumstances, and certainly not the full details I now know, and I assume more has been made public now due to the length of time which has passed. My parents never got over losing Keith and it is sad that they were also unaware of just what a sacrifice he made. I knew he would never have ejected and abandoned Chris but I didn’t know he had spared so many other people. It was because of Keith’s success and happiness in the RAF that I subsequently joined the WRAF after his death. Incidentally, his nickname “Sonny” was not a family one, but due to his young age. He learned to fly at the age of 15, having won a scholarship to do so, and obtained his private pilot’s licence before he had his driver’s licence. When he joined up at seventeen and a half, he was the youngest pilot in the RAF, hence the nickname “Sonny”.

Both Keith and Chris are buried in Germany in the military cemetery at RAF Rheindalen and their names are also inscribed at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire.

Keith was also a keen road cyclist (he was a UK junior champion in 1966) and his name lives on in the form of a cycling trophy which was made in his honour after he died. It was initially presented to the winning cycling team from all the RAF Germany stations, then later transferred to UK and is currently with RAF High Wycombe. This is a link showing the trophy: http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcycling/results/keithrolandholmesmemorialtrophy.cfm

I do not know if Chris has any surviving relatives but if he does and anyone reading this has contact information, could you please forward the details of this memorial as I doubt that they would be aware of its existence either.

I live in British Columbia, Canada, but hope to visit Xanten sometime in the future to see the memorial and possibly meet the people responsible for it so I can tell them a little more about Keith and thank them personally for their tribute to two fine young men. If anyone has any information about who instigated the creation of the memorial, I would be very glad to know.

Thank you.

Wendy Holmes
Squamish, BC, Canada

Nice to see they are remembered.

The above aircraft was Canberra B(I)8 WT366. No.16 Squadron. Crashed 5 October 1971 Luttingen, Holland.
F/O. K R. Holmes 22 Pilot and F/L. C W. King 27 Navigator killed.

A memorial has been unveiled in memory of the aircrew of a 16 Sqdn Canberra Bomber from RAF Laarbruch which crashed in Xanten-Lüttingen, Germany, in October 1971. Apparently the crew steered the burning aircraft away from populated area to ensure it crashed into a field so there would be no further casualties.

If you use this link and click onto the headline “Gedenkstätte für Jagdbomberabsturz vor 40 Jahren [03:11 min]”
so can see amateur footage of the wreckage and another Canberra circling over the site. Narration if of course in German.
http://www.wdr.de/mediathek/html/regional/rueckschau/lokalzeit_duisburg.xml

I would like to know which Canberra this was.

Peter

Google found this:

http://www.laarbruch-museum.net/ENG/Crashes/051071.html

Regards

Simon