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Remembered Today:

Gotha crash site


stripeyman

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I am a little new to GWF but here goes......... Can the experts identify the precise location of this crash site ?

The photograph appears in 'A Glint in the Sky' by Martin Easdown and Thomas Genth, Pen & Sword 2004. Caption in book.....Gotha G4 (LVG) 991/16

crashed into a Belgium farmhouse on 11 November 1917. MORATAS stand for Leutnant Mons, Leutnant Roland and possibly Unteroffizer Hermann Tasche.... Thomas Genth.

The purpose of finding the location is to do a 'then and now' for the series 'The Camera Returns' in the WFA Stand To! journel.

post-18171-1198689141.jpg

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Hi Bob,

This does not help very much but I could not find any of the names you list in "The Casulaties of the German Air Service" by Norman Franks. Mind you this is admittedly not a complete list but would have given me the location of death had there been a match. How certain are you of the German aviators names?

Steve

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I am only quoting from the book, I presume that Thomas Genth has the spelling correct. His grandfather Adolf Genth was a observer in a Gotha.

I e-mailed him a few weks ago but not had a reply yet, that is Thomas, not his grandfather of course !

Thanks Michael and Steve for your interest.

Bob Grundy

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Hi Bob,

From another source:

http://www.aeroconservancy.com/gothafabric.htm

it would appear that Thomas Genth reported that the crew and the Belgian couple in the farmhouse were reported as being killed in the accident. There again it also appears that the gunner Hermann Tasche survived as he was shot down in England in 1918, surviving the crash and being taken prisoner.

Steve

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Also, if you look at the 'Aerodrome'

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/207749-post2.html

the thread states that the Gotha crashed while making a night landing approach. So this would suggest that it was near an aerodrome. So if you can find out where this aircraft was operating from, it shouyld give you a rough idea as to where it crash landed.

Steve

PS I found on another Internet site that two of the bases used for the Gotha night-time bombing of England (which started in September 1917) were Gontrode (south east of Gent) and Sint-Denijs-Westrem (St Denis Westrem), south of Gent

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There were no raids on Britain any time around the date quoted (there was a lull) so the aircraft would not have been returning from a bombing mission over Britain

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Two years later we still haven't been able to solve this mystery, that is, concerning the location.

I also have very serious doubts about the farmers being killed, as it is clear that the plane crashed into the stables, not in the living area of the couple.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Two years later we still haven't been able to solve this mystery, that is, concerning the location.

I also have very serious doubts about the farmers being killed, as it is clear that the plane crashed into the stables, not in the living area of the couple.

Thanks everyone for the interest. I had a look on the sites recomended and found the one showing great deatail at Gontrode wonderfull.

I rearly need to visit this area, a pity that it is so far from my home in northern England...... Bob G

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Thanks everyone for the interest. I had a look on the sites recomended and found the one showing great deatail at Gontrode wonderfull.

I rearly need to visit this area, a pity that it is so far from my home in northern England...... Bob G

I suppose that site is this one ? : http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/view...d5c80bff505a0d4

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Bruno, that is quite correct, the article on my forum concerns the Gontrode aerodrome, not far away from the home of one of our moderators, who took most of the pictures...

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As referred to in one of the earlier posts, my web site, The Aero Conservancy, has a piece of fabric from a Gotha of the England Geschwader, No. 979, whcih was shot down over England. I have been trying to find high-resolution photos of the England Geschwader aircraft on their airfield. These photos can be readily found, but never in high enough resolution to see any of the serial numbers of the aircraft in the background. If anyone has any of these photos in high rez and could email them to me, I would really appreciate it.

Charles Gosse

The Aero Conservancy

www.aeroconservancy.com

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