Historian is on trail of tragic RAF flyer
ADUTCH historian is seeking help to trace a World War Two flying officer from Rochdale who crashed in The Netherlands.
Adrian van Zantvoort, from Eindhoven, spends his free time researching wartime RAF Bomber Command crashes and locating their crews, especially in the south east of his homeland.
Now, Adrian, 64, is asking for help tracing Navigator Flying Officer Harry Forshaw, who died along with his crew when their Lancaster ED980 was shot down by a German night fighter over the village of Schijndel in the night June 14/15, 1943.
Sadly, the entire crew were killed and buried at Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery at a war grave section.
Harry was the son of George and Annie Forshaw, of Rochdale, and husband of Emily Forshaw of Firgrove.
Adrian said he was in touch with three other crew relatives and hopes to contact the relatives of the entire crew to find out more about the men and ensure they are remembered.
“I would like to put a face to a name,” said Adrian, who started researching Bomber Command crashes in the early 90s.
“Once I was walking over Eindhoven general cemetery where 563 airmen are buried mostly Bomber Command and I saw the young age of all of these men; I was asking to myself what was happened with them. I went to local archives and found not much about aircraft crashes, only found some info in the Commonwealth War Grave Register.
“Still I wanted to know who they are, where they grew up, their families, and wondered why they volunteered for a duty in Bomber Command.”
Adrian is currently writing a book about the air war over the south east part of Holland and would like to include a chapter about this incident.
He said: “Many people here in Holland remember World War Two and the liberation, but seem to forget that also above their heads there was a war going on.
“About 7,000 aircraft were lost over The Netherlands during the Second World War.
“We here in Holland shall never forget what these brave airmen did for our freedom, and many paid the highest price.”
Anyone with information about Harry can contact Adrian via email on azantvoort@outlook.com.