229808 F/O Alfred Thompson McKay Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 12 Sqdn. from:Morayshire (d.27th April 1944) In the early morning of April 27th 1944 RAF Lancaster ND 873 12 squadron from Wickenby was shot down by a German nightfighter and crashed about 7 km from my home town in the south of the Netherlands. The seven crew members didn't survive. Their graves are now at Jonkerbos war cemetery in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The crewmembers were:
- Flying officer McKay, Alfred Thompson 21 years, navigator. Son of Alfred and Margaret Thompson McKay, of Knockando, Morayshire.
- Sergeant Laybourne, Roy William 21 years, flight engineer. Son of William and Martha Laybourne, of Worsley, Lancashire.
- Sergeant Shiels, Alexander Kelso 21 years, air gunner. Son of James Lyle Shiels and Catherine Wilson Shiels, of Auchinloch, Lanarkshire.
- Flying officer Smith, Lawrence Lindsay 21 years, air bomber. Son of the Revd. Lawrence Bradway Smith, B.A., B.D., and of Lillian Frances Smith (nee Casselman), of Westmeath, Ontario, Canada.
- Sergeant McJannett, Alexander Strathern 21 years, wireless operator. Son of Margaret May McJannett; husband of Freda Joyce McJannett, of Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, from Wigston Magna, Leicestershire.
- Sergeant Dyerson, Harold Edward 32 years, airgunner. Son of Alfred Dyerson, and of Ada Bell Dyerson, of Plaistow, Essex.
- Pilot officer Nicholls, George Edwin 32 years, pilot. Son of James Edwin and Evelyn Nicholls, of Heamoor, Penzance, Cornwall; husband of Madeline Nicholls, of Heamoor.
The seven crew members of ND 873 were killed immediately. Their bodies were buried by the German occupying forces at a tempory military cemetery in Venlo (in fact a part of a terrain at the Dr Blumenkampstraat near the hospital of Venlo, claimed by the German army soon after the occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 and initially intended only for their killed soldiers).
In August 1947 the bodies of the seven crew members were removed to Jonkerbos War Cemetery in Nijmegen, 50 km north of Venlo.
We, a small group of interested persons, are trying to collect information about this Lancaster and especially his crew.
Is there more information about the crew members? Photographs are very welcome. Are there next of kin still alive? They are
invited to contact me. Perhaps we have some information or pictures of interest for them.
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