The website Airmen.dk has been online since 2007 providing information on allied airmen and aircraft shot down over Denmark during WWII. It currently holds data on 463 aircraft and 3089 airmen shot down over occupied Denmark or Danish waters between 1939-1945.
The website is operated by Mr Anders Straarup dedicating decades to documenting, maintaining and presenting a history that otherwise would be lost.
As with TLBP the drivers are remembrance and preservation of a legacy that others sacrificed to give us.
The fallen airmen are not an anonymous group. They were men, often very young, who lost their lives in the war of their time. We have every reason to be grateful for what they did. The aim of this website is to preserve their names, what their loved ones felt by the loss of their airman and what Danes felt by experiencing the war at close range.
Excerpt from the “About” page on airmen.dk
I’ve personally used the website in my research where it has provided critical information. It proved particularly valuable while writing about TLBP signatory Mr Lester Schrenk and his fateful mission that signalled the start of 15 months in captivity. Schrenk, to no surprise of ours, has been a close advisor and friend to airmenDK submitting several articles for publication on the website.
Over time I have corresponded with Mr Straarup sharing the same passion for preservation of history. So it was with a sense of great pride and honor that I made it onto the very exclusive Christmas card list of Mr Straarup for 2022.
The Christmas card, like no other, comes very much aligned with the spirit of airmenDK that takes you on a journey in history. The greeting, published with Mr Straarups permission in full below, is a profound read with enough rabbit-holes to last for days.
Thank you for your work and support Anders!
| Airmen, bombs, and veterans, Christmas 2022 Dear Lester Schrenk, Bill Emerslund, David Geddes, Gregers Laigaard, Lars Wikander and Lars McKie. Other readers may take this as an appetizer. Follow links and see more. Notice the main page with options. From AirmenDK www.airmen.dk links-line 2 you click Memorial to see the monument to the crew of LAN R5679. This year Gregers had it moved, see This memorial stone was moved on 11 October 2022. The reason is that now it is easier for guests of the inn to see that there is an inscription when they walk the easiest way to the Morten Korch Museum and the barn with tin roof that you see in the photo to the right on page Afsløring – Unveiling 4 (airmen.dk) and to the left on page Afsløring – Unveiling 12 (airmen.dk). That barn now in the left half contains a reconstruction of a half-timbered house about 200 years old – see Sandkærgårdeladen on the website Kartoffeltysker.dk about the Potato Germans. The right half is used by the Grønhøj Kro, see this photo from Galleri where you also spot LAN R5679. Gregers and Dorte make the inn an interesting place to visit. In May 2022 Frank Weber sent me a copy of a remarkable pilot’s own book. See Planes and missions with Minelaying areas and notice the German island of Sylt. On 14 APR 1940 the famous Guy Gibson passed that island in a Hampden to drop mines in the Carrot area. He told his navigator to tell him, when they were 3 minutes from ETA – Expected Time of Arrival. Then they would go down from about 900 feet through heavy clouds. See what happened, when they suddenly saw the Little Belt Bridge. A close call! David takes excellent photos! I just tried to illustrate a story. The point is to find a good camera position. Bill is very interested in Police and “Svanen” might interest him. Sgt Schrenk+Obl Müller has details of the American Ball Turret Gunner who met the German Pilot who shot him down 68 years and 2 months later in Germany to thank him for saving the lives of the crew of his plane. A remarkable story! You may see a video from 2012, if you have 3 minutes. The second paragraph mentions The Log Book Project by a number of people including Lars McKie. See also a film brought on NHK-World Japan News! Les was happy to add a link to it. On 17 DEC 2022 my friend Les, 98, and Bernice sent me a Christmas Greeting that you find near the bottom of the page Lester Schrenk about him and with links to many of his contributions to AirmenDK. The story of him is also the story of quite a number of American airmen. Cemeteries has for many years had links (letters) at the west coast of Sweden, photos from Lars Wikander. My main page has the link Kær Bomber that you may have a look at. Unfortunately I found it impossible to translate everything into English. On 29 OCT 2022 a group of people from AFMCA used metal detectors and shovels to find debris from the crash of HAL HR940 – and then they found 2 bombs! The area was sealed off. On that page you see the exact types of the 7 bombs that that plane carried at take-off. My contribution was to find that information via the National Archives website. See Craters from the bombs with a link to a video from Danish Defence, 29 seconds with the explosion seen in 4 ways! It is 227 km from my home, so I was not there. AirmenDK will be preserved and continued with public access after me by the National Museum of Denmark. Then I took the opportunity to add pages about veterans of other wars. You may see the link Veteran 1864 at the bottom left corner of AirmenDK. Notice the photo Våbenbrødre i 1908 (Brothers in Arms 1908). The sitting veterans are from the war 1848-50 (started 60 years earlier) while the standing veterans are from the war in 1864, also called the Second Schleswig War. Denmark lost 40% of its territory and the population dropped from 2.6 million to 1.6 million inhabitants. My point was to tell about medals – Erindringsmedaljer. My latest contribution is the article Veteraner 1864 Randers. Problem: It takes time from the Allied airmen! And now I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! |
My name is Laurence Green, grandson of Pilot Officer Bernard Green MC who survived the shooting down of Hampden L1087 of 44 Sq. on July 20th 1940. The plane crashed in the North Sea off Kandesterdne, near Skagen (Hulsig). I have located the exact spot where he was captured near Hulsig. The pilot, Sergeant Farrands, also survived but Sergeants Miller and Nixon were killed on impact and are buried in Skagen Cemetery, near the station. I will be in Skagen for a day in May if more information is needed. My grandfather went on to be the oldest man who escaped through the tunnel in Stalag Luft III on March 25th 1944. He survived both world wars and died at the age of 83 in 1971. I have some remarkable photos of the wreck of the plane left unattended outside a pub in Gammel Skagen, taken by two patriotic boy scouts who took as much kit off the aircraft as they could. I refer you to the excellent website by Herr Soren Flensted. Best wishes, Laurence Green.
Thank you so much for sharing this Laurence! It is a remarkable story of survival, is there anywhere one can read more?
Best regards
Lars
Hello Laurence,
Firstly, apologies for the abysmal response time – secondly, thank you so much for sharing your grandfathers story…and also thank you for your contribution in ensuring that these stories are preserved for future generations.