On the evening of 13 May 1943, a heavily loaded Lancaster bomber took off from Bardney airfield to bomb the Skoda factory in Pilsen. The aircraft was intercepted by a German night fighter in the airspace of the province of Friesland and exploded. The debris came down in the vicinity of Hieslum.
The AVRO Lancaster MK.III ED589 was commanded by Sergeant G.H. Saxton and was part of the 9th Squadron. During the flight to Pilsen (Plzeň), the Lancaster was hit by fire from a German Messerschmitt night fighter. The aircraft lost altitude and exploded in mid-air. All seven crew members died in the crash, two of them are buried in the Hieslum cemetery. The other five crew members were never found. A total of nine aircraft were lost during this mission. During the bombing, the Skoda factory suffered minor damage, most of the bombs ended up next to the factory.
The Lancaster was shot down by the Messerschmitt ME 100 of Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän Lothar Linke and his radio operator Walter Czybulka. It was the second aircraft that Linke shot down that night, in total he had already intercepted and shot down 22 aircraft. The next day, Linke would intercept his 23rd plane in the morning.Â
Lothar Linke went on and, on this night, and that also meant his end. At 03:51 am his Messerschmitt crashes near Tacozijl due to a technical defect. Lothar Linke was killed in the crash.
The Orange Association of Parrega and Hieslum'' took the initiative in 1995 to place this monument in memory of the crew members of Lancaster MK.III ED589.
