Mission Belle

The salvage 

The plane that came down at the 'Boveneind' in Nieuw-Lekkerland was only salvaged on July 26th, 1955 and broken down east of the town Lekkerkerk, in the neighborhood Opperduit. The current location, where the salvaged wreckage was put down, is now part of a marina, where the ships will be put during the winter for maintenance. Cees Monteban from Lekkerkerk saw it all. He also saw shoes with bones in them came from the wreckage. Those were the remains of the last mentioned flyer Healy. Local man Arie Helleman (10-06-1930) also lived close to the place where the wreckage was broken down. He lived in a houseboat near the place where the wreckage was put down, in Opperduit.

That location was then the wharf of the town Lekkerkerk. Arie Helleman rembembers very well that the plane came in pieces from the other side of the river Lek and then those pieces were sprayed clean with water. The parachutes were still intact when they were taken from the wreckage. The human remains, personal possessions and armaments we treated very carfully. The ammunition of the machineguns have been under water for almost twelve years. As a detail can be mentioned that Helleman used for many years the parachutecords that were given to him by one of the salvage-workers.



Photo’s of the salvage on July 26, 1955 made by Arie Helleman.


   



Photo’s of the salvage on July 26, 1955 made by Ad Korpel.





Photo’s of the salvage on July 26, 1955 made by Jan van den Oever.





Photo’s of the salvage on July 26, 1955 from the newspaper 'Het Vrije Volk' of July 29th, 1955.



Photo of the salvage on July 26, 1955 from Dirk de Jager.



Photo of the salvage on July 26, 1955 from Wim de Jager.



©  & ® Mission Belle, May 8th, 2021.