Hi,
can anyone furnish me with, or point me to a reliable online source of information regarding Sq/L Roger J Bushell.
His last sortie etc, specifically when & where he took off from the day he was shot down, and where exactly he was shot down.
Also, his journey across Germany after the ‘Great’ escape and the exact location of when & where he was apprehended.
I’d rather ask the people who will know than trust Wikipedia.
Thanks in avdance
By: G-ASEA - 24th February 2011 at 17:40
My friend who knew Sgt Ralf ‘Tich’ Havercroft was told by him that he was flying as number two to Roger Bushell when he was shot down. Tich saw him standing on the wing of his Spitfire that had bellied landed and radioed to him. Asking if he should land and try to pick him up! Bushell radioed back saying he was ok and would try to make it on foot.
We had ‘Tich’s’ uniform on display at Bletchley Park for a few years until we where forced to close our museum down, the uniform went back to his son.
Dave
By: EN830 - 24th February 2011 at 16:44
Flying with 92 Squadron in Spitfire l N3194 (not a Hurricane as often published) when he was shot down in combat with Me110s.
Tangmere 1940 or Mark12 maybe able to shed some light on the exact location as they were involved in the recovery of another 92 Sqn Spitfire lost on the same day for Time Team.
I think I have some details of his assumed escape route in my files on Bernard Scheidhauer, I will see if I can find them.
By: Chris B - 24th February 2011 at 13:28
‘After the Battle’
Per the index in the latest issue ‘The Great Escape’ was covered in issue 87.
Regards
Chris
By: Nachtjagd - 24th February 2011 at 08:04
Not exactly an on-line source, but you should check out the relevant back issue of ‘After the Battle’ magazine (sorry, can’t remember the issue number) which deals with the Great Escape. There is a very good amount of information about Bushell in there, pre war, his capture in 1940 and his 1944 escape route. (He and his French AF escape buddy were picked up at Saarbrucken). Although ATB are usually 100% correct in everything, they got one bit wrong about the place where he was executed. Their photo of the A6 autobahn near Landstuhl shows the road as it is today – they didn’t realise that the road had been ‘moved’ further south in 1950/51 when Ramstein US air base was constructed. The exact spot where he died is now within the air base boundary near the civil engineering facility. You can see on Google Earth where the old autobahn was, which today partly forms the main highway through the air base. There is no memorial to Bushell and I guess the authorities would not want one there, especially as the memorial to the Ramstein air display disaster is not far away. Hope this helps.
Dieter
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February 23, 2011 at 7:14 pm