Their plane went down - how this WW2 Canada crew survived

On 1 May, 1943 a level carrying a mostly Canadian unit went down successful the Netherlands. Eighty years on, the BBC is retelling the events of that fateful time - and their acold reaching consequences - as portion of our ongoing task "We Were There", which features British veterans telling their ain stories for aboriginal generations.

For arsenic agelong arsenic Janet Reilley tin remember, the archetypal time of May has been 1 of remembrance for her household - of lives mislaid and saved successful combat.

Her begetter "Mac" Reilley would prime up the telephone to his person "Buddy" MacCallum, to retrieve the events of 1943 that shaped their young lives - and their futures.

Few of "the top generation" who fought during World War Two stay to carnivore witness. Now, it's up to their descendants to support their representation alive, truthful that others mightiness recognize the bravery, sacrifice and trauma of 1 of the 20th Century's defining conflicts.

This peculiar story, of the unit of a Handley Page Halifax dense bomber, is astir however a tiny radical of young Canadians flew successful the skies implicit Europe during the Battle of the Ruhr. That level was conscionable 1 of much than 8,000 craft mislaid successful enactment during Allied bombing operations.

Using their ain recollections and those of their families, arsenic good arsenic records from the Bomber Command Museum of Canada, the BBC is retelling the communicative of however their level went down, the play of their seizure and however immoderate of them survived.

The halfway of the unit - "Andy" Hardy, MacCallum and Reilley - archetypal flew unneurotic successful July 1942. By the outpouring of 1943, they were joined by process gunner "Red" O'Neill, formation technologist Ken Collopy, and precocious gunner, Norm Weiler, 1 of lone 2 non-Canadians.

The different was my large uncle, Flight Lieutenant Herbert Philipson Atkinson, different known arsenic "Phil the Englishman". MacCallum, the wireless operator, believed they were fortunate to person 1 of the champion pilots successful the Royal Canadian Air Force.

So precocious was the complaint of nonaccomplishment successful their squadron that they were considered some an "old" and "lucky" crew. The likelihood were against them - lone astir 15% of RCAF crews flying connected the aforesaid benignant of craft survived a afloat circuit successful 1943, according to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.

At 14:00 connected 30 April 1943, alongside 5 different crews, they received a two-hour briefing of their cognition for that nighttime - Essen, described to them arsenic 1 of the toughest targets successful the Ruhr. Home to the Krupp steelworks, the metropolis was captious to German subject manufacturing.

Delayed owed to fog implicit England, they acceptable retired astatine midnight. Shortly aft 03:00, Atkinson gave the bid to unfastened the weaponry doors implicit the "huge furnace, with thousands of searchlights and dense flak guns blasting away" successful the defence of Essen.

Suddenly Hardy, who was navigating, cried out, "I've been hit." An anti-aircraft ammunition had severed his close limb supra the knee.

MacCallum tried successful vain to prevention him, wrapping him successful his bomber overgarment to support him lukewarm and giving him morphine successful his agonising last moments.

With their navigator dead, Atkinson told Reilley to merchandise their bombs and past assistance him usher the craft wide of the target. Hardy's cautious log and representation array were unreadable with his blood, truthful Reilley plotted a people location to England from the formation program and astral navigation.

"Fighter starboard!" shouted idiosyncratic arsenic the dependable of cannon shells hitting the fuselage rang out. "Everywhere you looked was fire," recalled Weiler.

"The skipper dived and past pulled up, and the flames did dice down a little, but flared up and dispersed implicit the helping arsenic we dived to clasp flying speed," recalled MacCallum. Atkinson's determination to dive stopped the craft from stalling and rolling over, giving his unit the accidental to travel his acquisition to bail out.

Reilley and O'Neill had bailed retired before, the lone survivors of a clang successful October 1942.

That lawsuit is traced successful the Canadian scenery astatine Mount Hudema successful British Columbia, which Reilley had named successful honour of the pilot. It is 1 of much than 950 locations successful the territory with a sanction connected to World War Two.

The past to permission the level was Callopy, with Atkinson remaining to alert it truthful his unit could safely bail out. He did not survive.

But six members of the unit did - landing successful fields and trees astir Elst successful the Netherlands, wherever they were captured arsenic prisoners of warfare (POWs).

Years later, Weiler recalled however aft landing successful a tract of cows, helium had heard the bombers successful the aerial returning home, and had felt "a sickly and lonely feeling" arsenic helium contemplated what destiny awaited him.

They were swiftly separated and sent to camps crossed Nazi-controlled territory. Collopy and O'Neill to Northern Germany, MacCallum to occupied Lithuania, and Reilley, Nurse and Weiler to occupied Poland.

As an officer, Reilley went to Stalag Luft 3, wherever an elaborate flight effort would spell connected to animate the Hollywood movie "The Great Escape".

That movie dramatises the efforts to excavation 3 tunnels from the prisoners' surviving quarters to the woods beyond the perimeter fence.

In existent life, the program was to fto 200 RAF officers to flight done Germany utilizing forged documents and civilian clothing, each created wrong the camp.

Only 76 officers made it retired of the tunnel, and lone 3 managed to not get caught. The Gestapo executed 50 successful retribution.

Reilley, who was fig 86 successful enactment to escape, ne'er made it into the passageway helium had helped build. Originally, helium did not adjacent cognize helium was signing up for the flight program - helium thought helium was joining a situation cricket league.

"It was my task to haul soil brought up from the tunnels to wherever it was being dispersed; arsenic good I did a spot of information erstwhile my genu was truly bad," Reilley would recall, having injured his genu and ankle erstwhile helium landed successful immoderate trees aft bailing retired of the Halifax.

That genu would origin him much trouble, erstwhile helium was forced to march, on with different Allied prisoners, done bitter wintertime conditions towards the extremity of the war. The Nazis wanted to usage them arsenic a quality shield to bounds the last onslaught of bombing raids connected large cities.

They survived 4 months trekking aimlessly for hundreds of miles connected foot, faced with the ever-present hazard of decease by starvation, exhaustion, vulnerability oregon summary execution. MacCallum, a Nova Scotian, maintained helium had ne'er experienced specified a "bone-chilling" cold.

He narrowly avoided being killed by his ain broadside erstwhile their bedraggled file was mistaken for a German portion by Allied aircraft. The scars connected his heels from marching without socks would past a lifetime.

Only Collopy and O'Neill would beryllium spared from marching.

Two years and a time aft the crash, Reilley was liberated by the Cheshire Regiment adjacent Lubeck, bluish Germany, having mislaid 55lb (25kg) since the commencement of the war.

MacCallum was freed connected the banks of the River Elbe, portion Weiler was liberated adjacent Munich.

The six who returned were each inactive successful their 20s, young men who had near Canada to serve.

For MacCallum, making it location meant helium would get to wed Rosemary. They had met earlier the warfare and had an knowing that if helium came backmost alive, they would wed. They did truthful connected 14 July 1945.

Their full courtship had been conducted by handwritten letters implicit the people of the war. "It blows my caput that someway letters got betwixt Grafton and Poland oregon Lithuania," says their eldest lad Wayne.

They were expected to find jobs and transportation connected with life. So MacCallum, who'd gone to warfare astatine 18 consecutive from school, trained arsenic an electrician and built a location for himself and his caller family.

With assistance from his father-in-law to get enactment initially, Buddy and Rose would physique a beingness successful her location municipality of Grafton. She inactive lives there, not acold from Wayne.

Collopy returned to enactment the household wheat workplace connected the borderline of Frobisher, a colony of 150 radical successful Saskatchewan.

Those who made it backmost live would rise families, knowing that 17,000 men who volunteered for the RCAF would ne'er get that opportunity.

They carried with them not conscionable carnal but affectional injuries from their experiences.

Wayne would lone observe that his begetter had endured nightmares for the remainder of his beingness aft his decease successful 2021. During his lifetime, his dada "kept it to himself, but erstwhile helium talked to Mac".

Janet, Reilley's daughter, remembers however her dada gave up intoxicant erstwhile she was three, having utilized it to header with the continued memories of surviving the crash, imprisonment and the forced march. He was hospitalised doubly successful a psychiatric portion erstwhile his trauma became unbearable successful the 1950s.

"Sometimes successful the mediate of the nighttime erstwhile slumber volition not travel but vivid memories bash I wonderment if it was each worthy it. And yet I person to beryllium honorable and accidental that successful spite of it each I americium gladsome that I saw acceptable to volunteer," Reilley said.

Today Janet Reilley, is hoping that she tin support live the household enslaved forged successful warfare with Wayne MacCallum. It has lasted 80 years truthful far, on with the abiding memories of what "the top generation" gave and mislaid for peace.