Dame Sans Merci
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Koenraad Dumoulin has emailed this story to us. |
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Dear friends,
The story of " Dame sans merci " still intrigues me.
There is a picture in a Flemish-Belgian book in the chapter
" Crash at the brickworks in Langemark" relating the
May 1944 crash and the same picture in another book " Action
With the Enemy " relating the 31st of October crash landing
at St Gerard, probably in the Namur area.
Which one of the photos with the young locals belongs to one
of the two Lancaster losses. There is a distance of more than
250 km between Langemark and Namur so that it is impossible
that the youngsters could be in the same locations.
I have more and more doubts about the link between the Langemark explosion
crash and the picture with the young people. I'll tell
you how my opinion is formed:
The Langemark
crash was an air explosion crash in which the nose of
the plane cracked off the body in the clay pit. The plane was
taken out by the Germans in bits and pieces. So indeed
the picture with dame sans merci laying in a field in her total
body can never be the one of the Langemark crash. This proves
that " Dame sans merci " was a crash landing
near St. Gerard ( Namur ):
I went
to see and speak several elderly people in the Langemark
area that lived around the crash site: NO ONE remembers
to have seen the badge with the naked woman. This has never
been told in the witness reports before. Langemark is a very
catholic region, and Flanders certainly was in the 40s.
When a badge of a naked woman would have been spotted on the
Lancaster that would certainly have been the talk of the day.
So someone should remember that painting. NO ONE DOES
! Not even my dad who was around the plane lots of times.
The
picture of the youngsters is a very clear shot, done with details
and sharp focus. They had the time to pose. The St. Gerard Lancaster crashed
in liberated territory so that the locals had time and
liberty to pose. The Langemark crash happened in May 1944
in full German occupation. There was lot of tension at that
time so that no one would pose before the cockpit. This wouldn't have
been allowed by the Germans either.
I went
to see the Callewaert family that lived at the crash site. No
one has ever seen that picture of the youngsters before and
they don't recognize any of their family.
For
now, the only one that recognizes himself is Mr DAELS, the young
boy. But with all respect, I have my doubts. When I asked him
to show the original picture he couldn't. Not one of the old
folks recognizes with certainty him or his sister.
Baron
Von Vinck took pictures on the day of the crash. It is
very difficult to find him, he is residing in the costal
area. He was a very young boy then taking snapshots and will
probably not remember the pose. He was very busy with the
RAF rescue in Belgium so that he may have taken the " Dame
sans merci " picture on a later date... October 1944.
I will contact
the writer of the Flemish book " Fatal seconds "
and ask him how he obtained the picture with the locals posing
before the Dame Sans Merci crest.
Conclusion:
I am more and more convinced
that the locals are indeed from the St Gerard area and that
this picture has nothing to do with the Langemark crash. Someone
would remember the naked woman crest, and no one does !
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THE CONTINUATION:- I just had
contact with the author of " Fatal Seconds " Mr Dirk
DECUYPERE from GELUWE ( Flanders ). He agrees with me that the
picture of La Belle Dame Sans Merci has nothing to do with the
Langemark crash. He got the picture with the Belgian youngsters
and La Belle Dame from Mr Baron de Vinck. The Baron was a young
boy then and collected pictures of crashed planes and sites,
after the war he was a great help to allied identification teams.
So it is possible that this picture got in his map together
with so many others. He told the author of Fatal Seconds that
he made that picture and that it was taken on the aircraft scrapyard
at Langemark Brickery.
Conclusion: the author agrees
with me that La Belle Dame has nothing to do with Powell's Lancaster
crash. There is great doubt about the picture taken in Langemark
and he rather believes the author of "Action with
the Enemy", in so far that the picture of La Belle Dame
Sans Merci and the youngsters was taken in ST Gerard, probably
near Namur in Belgium.
Mr DAELS probably believes now
what he read and saw in the Fatal Seconds book.
Mr Dirk DECUYPERE is a local
historian researching aircraft losses over Flanders in WW2.
He wants to contact you and can be contacted on his E-mail adress
dirk.decuypere@sip.be
End of story.
Out for me now. I hope to read
something of you in BiH. My E-mail address from the 11th of
Nov onwards will be: koenraad_dumoulin@hotmail.com
We will remember Powell's crew
probably in 2004 in Langemark nearby the crash site and a memorial
plaque will be unveiled.
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Koenraad DUMOULIN with framed silk airman's map found in Powell's Lancaster, held as a relic at home Belgium, 8902 Zillebeke, Victor Huysstraat 20 |
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| Authors Comment: - If any one can throw some light on to this then please email the Peter Johnson | |
