Sgt Haydn Davies - Memorial Garden - International Bomber Command Centre - Canwick - Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Posted by: 
SMacB
N 53° 12.855 W 000° 31.785
30U E 664943 N 5898952
A wooden bench in the peace gardens at the International Bomber Command Centre, cedicated to Sgt Haydn Davies VR.
Waymark Code: WM121EK
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/01/2020
Views: 3
A wooden bench in the peace gardens at the International Bomber Command Centre, cedicated to Sgt Haydn Davies VR.
The plaque on the bench reads -
In Memory of
SERGEANT HAYDN DAVIES VR
LANCASTER EM-L
207 SQUADRON SPILSBY
"Ray Williams was just five years old when his father, Haydn Davies, disappeared on October 18 1943.
A Flight engineer with the RAF, the servicemen set off with the rest of Squadron 207 from RAF Spilsby, Lincs, in a Lancaster EM-L for a bombing raid in Hanover.
The seven strong crew had volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs during the war, bomber command.
But the plane and the majority of the crew were never seen again, with no clue as to what became of them.
Now 79, Ray and his brother Jeffrey, 73, almost gave up hope finding out what happened to their father.
Five years after the war ended the RAF’s crash investigation unit wrote to the family saying there was “no indication of the place of the crash or of the place of burial”.
A glimmer of hope surfaced when they located the rear gunner, a man named John McLean, who bailed out of the plane with severe injuries and became a prisoner of war.
But the only details he could shed on the mystery was a memory of Mr Davies fighting a fire aboard the aircraft.
In time their mother remarried and the brothers, from Swansea, grew up and had families of their own.
After decades if fruitlessly searching for answers, including listening to the radio each night for their father’s name in the “Germany Calling” broadcasts, they cracked the decades-old mystery.
Out the blue a German named Dirk Hatmann, a aviation history enthusiasts, replied to a message they had posted online in 2002.
After going through some Luftwaffe papers which escaped being destroyed, he told the men he may finally be able to solve the mystery.
Ray said: “Miracles happen, and this is one of them.”
After more than 70 years, the brothers discovered that while returning to England after a successful bombing raid, spotlights from the ground latched on to them and they came under fire.
A man named Hauptmann Paul Szameitat, piloting a Dornier 217, riddled the Lancaster with bullets.
The Brits managed to cripple the plane, but not before their own was irreparably damaged.
Rear gunner McLead bailed out at this point, his last memory of his crew mates fiercely battling the fire which had broken out on board.
After making contact with Mr Hatmann, the brothers travelled to Hanover to meet the 52-year-old, who after piecing various pieces together managed to locate the crash site.
German police logs shows on that fateful night a Lancaster came down next to a sign detailing the distances to the nearest towns, and when the men returned to the spot the sign was still there.
The report adds badly burned bodies were discovered, and likely buried at the scene.
Referring to the telegram his mother received informing her of her husband’s disappearance, they said: “At last, we have the answer to this piece of paper.”
Jeffrey said: “l like I have my whole life in my hands here,’ says Jeffrey, visibly moved as he feels these grubby remains in his hand.
“I just wish that my mother could be here . . .”
Ray added: “We’re looking at the place where six brave men gave their lives,’ says Ray, equally moved by it all.
“I can’t begin to express how grateful I am that we have found out what happened. And it is all thanks to this wonderful man.”
The brothers are hoping to place a memorial at the site."
SOURCE - (visit link)