On the evening of April 27, 1944, 12 formations of 12 bombers each took off. Their target for that night: the important marshalling yard of Montzen, Belgium, just southwest of Aachen.
The bombings were reasonably successful. Most aircraft reached their target and dropped their payload. Not long after the return journey had started, the formation was intercepted by German fighter aircraft. A total of 15 of the 144 bombers were lost that night.
One of the hit aircraft was a Handley Page Halifax of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft was assigned to 434 Squadron and bore the number LL243. The nickname for this aircraft was 'the Bluenose Outlaw'.
The bomber was shot down by a twin-engine Ju-88 fighter of 1. Gruppe, Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (1.NJG/1). The affected Bluenose ended up at Cartils, between Eys and Wittem.
Four of the seven Canadian crew members died in the crash or had already been killed during the attack: G.F. Maffre, the pilot/captain, G.W. Snow, the radio operator, Sergeant R.A. Meek, the hull gunner and Pilot Officer V.J. Cownden, the tail gunner.
Three other men had been able to fly to safety with their parachutes. They all ended up in different places.
The four Canadian soldiers who died were later buried in Maastricht, at the municipal cemetery on Tongerseweg, among a number of other British, Canadian and Australian soldiers, mainly from the air force. The same cemetery also contains two British crew members who crashed with their Halifax near Gulpen five days earlier.
The monument was unveiled on April 27, 1994, exactly 50 years after the fatal crash. The names of the fallen are written on a stone. There are also parts of an airplane, but these are most likely fake.
Gordon Stacey visited the monument to his fallen comrades in 2009 at the age of 86.
Translated by Google •
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