Google Earth Community: RAF War Crash Memorial

There is a tribute war memorial erected here: 48º 56' 44.70" N, 2º 18' 24.90" E

See the attached photo to view the memorial. The GE view was taken by satellite in May when the leaves of the trees were in full bloom, thus mainly obscuring the memorial from the air.

The memorial commemorates the loss of RAF bomber crews on the night of 29/30 April 1942. The bombers were Vickers Wellington medium bombers. There is some confusion as to how the aircraft crashed. I have seen it stated on one website that the aircraft were in a night time collision. However, the RAF squadron account is that at least one of the aircraft was shot down and was attempting to make it to the River Seine or the water of the docks rather than hit dry land. It is known that other Wellington bombers were also en route to Paris that night (there is another memorial to other lost aircrews in St Germain some 70 km North-west of the Gennevilliers crash site), which is probably where some of the confusion comes from.

The crews' bodies were removed from the wreckage and buried at Bievres communal cemetry with full military honours by the occupation forces of the German air force (Luftwaffe). The industrial area at Gennevilliers was primarily gas works owned by the French GDF company, which it is believed had the memorial erected to honour to the brave men who lost their lives in the bombing mission which ended when their bombers crashed here. What is remarkable about this site is that although it is almost hidden away in an industrial site where non-locals are unlikely to even know it is there, the local people have looked after the memorial for the past 6 decades.

One of my own relatives (Sgt W.G. "Billy" Sherratt - a second cousin) was wireless operator / air gunner in one of the aircraft from 156 Squadron RAF flying out of RAF Lichfield (Fradley). He lost his life that night and his name is shown on the memorial. I took my father (a first cousin of W.G. Sherratt) there in 1995 to see where his cousin had died. It was a very moving moment for us as a family. It was made even more emotional when we realised that the local people had erected the memorial and taken care of it all these years. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their kindness. The attached photo was taken in 1995. My own brother will visit the memorial in a few days from now, so I am hoping that the place is still well looked after. I will report back on what he finds when he is there.

If anybody has any information about the events of that night, or indeed was related to Sgt W.G. Sherratt of Tatenhill, Staffordshire, please post some detail here in reply. Thank you.