Advertisement
Advertisement
Add photo
Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith c. 1920 - 1942
Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith was born circa 1920, and died at age 21 years old on October 2, 1942. Benjamin Goldsmith was buried at Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20. D. 5. in Netherlands. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith.
Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith
circa 1920
October 2, 1942
Male
Looking for another Benjamin Goldsmith?
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
This page exists for YOU
and everyone who remembers Benjamin.
and everyone who remembers Benjamin.
Share what you know,
even ask what you wish you knew.
even ask what you wish you knew.
Invite others to do the same,
but don't worry if you can't...
but don't worry if you can't...
Someone, somewhere will find this page,
and we'll notify you when they do.
and we'll notify you when they do.
Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith's History: circa 1920 - 1942
Uncover new discoveries and connections today by sharing about people & moments from yesterday.- Discover how AncientFaces works.
-
1920circacirca 1920BirthdateUnknownBirthplaceADVERTISEMENT BY
-
Service number: 1287042 Rank: Sergeant Regiment: Royal Air Force Unit/ship/squadron: 149 Sqdn.
-
Benjamin was Air Gunner at The Royal Air Force. He was killed in action on October 2nd 1942 when his Short Stirling Bomber R9167 OJ-N crashed after it was shot down by a German night fighter. This is the story.It was very busy at the briefing on Friday, October 2, 1942 at air base RAF Lakenheath in the county of Suffolk in South East England. After all, there was another night operation on the program. A bombing flight on the German city of Krefeld. The Short Stirling R9167 with call sign OJ-N of 149 Bomber Squadron would also be part of the fleet of planes that would make the crossing to the European mainland. Squadron leader and pilot Roy Greenslade commanded six NCO’s, each with their specific task. Everyone being ready for departure, they chose the airspace at 7.06 pm in the evening. First it was important to form the fleet of bombers. As many as 188 aircraft would eventually take part in the action. 95 Wellingtons, 39 Halifaxes, 31 Lancasters and 23 Stirlings. The Pathfinders (scouts) reported dense fog veils that night above the city of Krefeld when they made the crossing over the North Sea. As a result, the bombs fell on the outskirts of Krefeld and were not concentrated in the center. The Germans did not give the attack the qualification of "Grossangriff". Nevertheless, the loss percentage for the British was three percent. Of the seven aircraft that were lost, one ended up in Kronenberg in the south east of The Netherlands. It was the Short Stirling R9167 from Roy Greenslade and his crew. In the beginning of 1941, the Germans set up combat posts in a line from Denmark over The Netherlands, south to Belgium and France of which three combat posts in The Netherlands in Nachtjagdraum 5. One of them was combat post 5B in Veulen, a small village near the Venray municipality. These combat posts would play a key role in the air war until the autumn of 1944. The German night fighters who were led from fighter post 5B in Veulen were from I / NJG-1 Nachtjagdgeschwader, which was stationed at Fliegerhorst Venlo, the largest German airfield outside Germany during the Second World War with an occupation of approximately 2000 troops. The radar equipment that belonged to such combat posts stood as far as possible in the front field in a westerly direction. For Veulen this radar station was located about 3.5 km south of De Rips in Noord Brabant. Here a Frya detection radar and two Würzburg Riese tracking radar installations were installed. This combined radar station was called BAZI. The Germans often used animal names and BAZI is the abbreviation for Bazille (baccil). As soon as the Allied bombers were detected by the radar station, this was passed on to the combat post in Veulen. The position of the own planes and the enemy planes was displayed on a so-called plot table and kept constantly up-to-date by means of red and green lights. (Red for the Allied aircraft and green for their own German aircraft.) Through a short-wave connection, the Jägerleitoffizier passed on the position of the approaching aircraft to his night fighters in encoded messages. The cumbersome bombers were an easy prey for the fast German Messerschmitts who prefered to shoot these bombers from the bottom up with their board guns. And so it happened, that Oberleutnant Flieger Hans Dieter Frank and marconist Gefreiter Erich Gotter were ordered in the evening of October 2, 1942, around 09:15 pm to launch an attack on British bombers on their way to Krefeld in a flight of 188 aircraft. The Short Stirling R9167 - OJ-N, belonging to a group of three aircraft from 149 Squadron, received its first direct hits at 21.31 hours above the municipality of Horst. Just after that, the aircraft started to burn. In a last desperate attempt to stay in the air, the Short Stirling opened the bomb shutters, bringing the load of hundreds of phosphorus bombs down and falling in Swolgen and the municipality of Horst, fortunately without causing any significant damage. However, it did not help anymore. Over Horst, Oberleutnant Frank once again hit the plane hard and a moment later at 21.34 hours the burning bomber crashed in a plot of land of the Pijpers family in Kronenberg, shifted the road and stopped at the edge of the forest. There it has been burning for days. Local residents rushed to the burning wreck immediately and found the half-burned bodies of several crew members in the area and near the wreckage. A moment later it was discovered that one of the occupants of the aircraft was still alive. He layed heavily wounded in the field and pointed constantly to the ring on his left ring finger, which had already been swollen. One of the bystanders understood what the man meant and managed to get the ring off the finger. Just after that a patrol of the Feldgendarmerie (German Military Police) appeared and the people were pushed back. The unknown crew member died on the spot before he could be transported to the hospital in Venlo. After the war it was determined which aircraft had crashed that night in Kronenberg. They also found out the names of the crew members. The only one still alive after the crash of the Short Stirling turned out to be Sergeant Ernest.Leslie Moore, Air Gunner. The ring was sent to his parents shortly after the liberation. All seven crew members were killed in the crash. Crew Short Stirling R9167 (Code OJ-N) 149 Squadron A.F.C. R.A.F. 1 Squadron Leader Pilot: William Roy Greenslade, R.A.F. (DFC-AFC-MiD) (Youngstown Alberta, Canada) Age 25. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.3 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 2 Flight Sergeant Air Gunner: William Orange, R.A.F. (Bedlington Morpeth-UK) Age 27. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.8 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 3 Sergeant Flight Engineer: Marshal Kenneth Smith R.A.F. (Cambridge-UK) Age 21. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.6 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 4 Sergeant Wireless Op./Air Gunner: Frederick Leonard Hughes R.A.F. (Shoreditch, London-UK) Age 21. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.7 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 5 Sergeant Wireless Op./Air Gunner: Ernest Leslie Moore R.A.F. (Leicester-UK) Age 20. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.4 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 6 Sergeant Air Gunner: Benjamin Frederick Goldsmith R.A.F. (Prestwick Lancashire-UK) Age 22. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 20.D.5 Nijmegen – The Netherlands 7 Flight Sergeant Air Observer Robert Francis McIntyre R.C.A.F. (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Age 25. Jonkersbos War Cemetery 20.D.9 Nijmegen – The Netherlands Lest we forget
-
10/21942October 2, 1942Death dateUnknownUnknownCause of deathDeath locationADVERTISEMENT BY
-
mm/dd/yyyyFuneral dateJonkerbos War Cemetery 20. D. 5. in NetherlandsBurial location
Advertisement
Advertisement
Add Memories, Stories & Photos about Benjamin
Family, friend, or fan...
share memories, stories,
photos, or simply leave
a comment to show
you care.
Remember the past to connect today & preserve for tomorrow.
- See how biographies work.
Be the 1st to share and we'll let you know when others do the same.
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Advertisement
Benjamin Goldsmith's Family Tree & Friends
Parent
Parent
Partner
Child
|
Sibling
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Followers & Sources
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Advertisement
Other Biographies
Other Benjamin Goldsmith Biographies
Goldsmith-Asher, Benjamin (Born Mar 23, 1985)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (circa 1887 - Sep 20, 1915)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (circa 1895 - May 16, 1918)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Born circa 1924)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Born circa 1919)
Goldsmith, Benjamin
Goldsmith, Benjamin (1922 - 1924)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (1848 - 1909)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Born circa 1976)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Oct 29, 1919 - Oct 30, 1998)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Nov 13, 1953 - May 16, 2011)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Nov 12, 1889 - Aug 1973)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Jun 16, 1953 - Aug 30, 2011)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Sep 21, 1905 - Feb 1986)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (May 1, 1932 - Jan 25, 1992)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Feb 1, 1912 - Feb 9, 1993)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Mar 2, 1900 - Sep 1986)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Apr 21, 1918 - Nov 1990)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Dec 2, 1881 - Sep 1962)
Goldsmith, Benjamin (Apr 25, 1912 - Feb 23, 2003)
Other Goldsmith Family Biographies
Goldsmith, Nettie Croft (Born Jan 7, 1912)
Goldsmith, Howard (Jul 5, 1908 - Feb 21, 1988)
Goldsmith, Elizabeth (Dec 1, 1913 - Apr 8, 1996)
Goldsmith, Ednah (Feb 12, 1909 - Jan 27, 1995)
Goldsmith, Ellen (Mar 26, 1927 - May 17, 2009)
Goldsmith, Daisy (Jul 26, 1899 - Apr 1990)
Goldsmith, Charles (Feb 20, 1903 - Nov 1973)
Goldsmith, Marion (Mar 12, 1887 - Jan 1983)
Goldsmith, Ellen (Mar 24, 1886 - Dec 1983)
Goldsmith, Abraham (Jan 15, 1875 - Jul 1963)
Goldsmith, Kennard (Jul 3, 1913 - Apr 12, 1997)
Goldsmith, Bernard (May 14, 1925 - Jun 9, 2005)
Goldsmith, Calvin (May 9, 1894 - Nov 1973)
Goldsmith, Nelson (Aug 21, 1899 - Oct 1965)
Goldsmith, Laura (Aug 30, 1924 - Dec 10, 2006)
Goldsmith, Russell (Mar 31, 1928 - Dec 20, 2003)
Goldsmith, Alice (Aug 7, 1902 - Oct 1987)
Goldsmith, Julia (Oct 20, 1900 - Sep 1985)
Goldsmith, Gordon (Oct 10, 1938 - Aug 25, 2011)
Goldsmith, Charles (Mar 12, 1901 - Dec 1974)
Advertisement
Advertisement
About the AncientFaces Community