Library Reference Number: 105
Counting the Cost
As a 10-year old German schoolboy, Peter Menges was appalled by the carnage of burned alive, killed, and seriously injured members of RAF aircrew. In the fields surrounding his village of Waldsee, he witnessed his first crash when a Halifax II was shot down by a German night fighter. He recalled that all seven members of aircrew were killed, the youngest 20-year old, the oldest 28. This had such an ill-effect, that he spent a great deal of his time in later years researching RAF crash sites in order to point out to younger generations the horrors of war. Having access to German squadron records, also British and German archives, Peter pieced together information that enabled him provide detailed records of 80 RAF crash sites in eastern Germany. Counting the cost to RAF Bomber Command, the official total number of lives lost being over 55,000 men.
One of the survivors with whom Peter Menges made contact in 1998, was Saltire Branch member Archie Mclntosh, who was shot down by a German night fighter on 23`d September 1943. Some of Archie's experience is related in our Branch Website Library (Story No.66). Sadly however, Archie Mclntosh died in 2004, and it is only fitting that we include some additional information he contributed shortly before he died.
"Even before our fateful final flight on 23`d September 1943, we certainly had our moments. On the final part of our operational training, we were given squadron reject Lancasters, and twice (once on landing; once on take-off) a tyre burst and we ground-looped, the lower part of wingtip barely missing the ground. We survived to be sent to join No.57 Squadron at Scampton which we shared with 617 Squadron, 3 months after the Dam Raids."
"I then set off on my first operational flight as a Navigator over Germany. Members of our crew had been detailed to fly individually with an experienced crew, to get 'the feel of it' and if we returned safe and in our right mind we were allowed to continue with our own crew!!"
"I was in the seat next to the pilot and, as we were approaching the target area, a Lancaster on the wrong track appeared out of the gloom heading straight for us. Our pilot re-acted well, and in the few seconds available put us into a steep dive. The other plane probably still unaware of our presence, roared overhead as everything loose in our cabin became weightless. A heavy Service Torch inserted in my flying boot, rose up and floated back along the fuselage. Shortly afterwards, going back to the rear of the aircraft, we found the oily, tarry disinfectant from the chemical toilet, had also risen out and spread over the fuselage, so we proceeded very cautiously and tried not to slip. Not a very nice baptism!"
Archie Mclntosh was pleased when German researcher Peter Menges declared that he did not classify Archie as a `Terrorflieger' but rather as a `Liberator.' Peter also advertised in newspapers, and found the young student Heinz Bentz, who had befriended Archie, when he feared for Archie's life when he overheard German guards threatening some harsh treatment for the RAF aircrew. In fact, the other three members of crew who had survived the crash suffered an unknown fate. According to Archie, the RAF Historical Branch giving a completely different version to the German version. In Archie's view, the German version being a complete cover-up of what actually happened. In any case, Peter Menges, Heinz Bentz and also Georg Zimmermann of a German Air Museum, had all eventually become firm friends from 1998. All sharing a mutual concern for the horror of war to become more widely known, with the accompanying tragic loss of so many human lives.
Details of Archie Mclntosh's final operational flight when he was shot down, are contained in Saltire Branch Website Library (Story No.66). Meanwhile, an article dated February 9th, 2006, has appeared in a German newspaper describing Peter Menges's long-term commitment to seek out information on RAF crash sites. He is also still seeking to interview contemporary witnesses, `before those events fall into oblivion.' He describes his main difficulty now, is potential witnesses are elderly and dying, also, from some who could help, he is met with 'most of the time silence.' Despite all those difficulties, Peter Menges has worked extremely hard to build up a huge number of files containing valuable records and research results. He recently stated that books such as `The Bomber War'* could have made much more use of all his comprehensive research results and information.
In the final months before he died, Archie Mclntosh wrote to the Saltire Branch News Editor "I believe that time is now running out for inclusion in the Records - - It cannot include the fate of the three members of the crew who survived the crash but died later. The RAF Historical Branch giving a completely different version than the German version, which was a complete cover up of what actually happened." Of Peter Menges, Heinz Bentz and George Zimmermann, Archie wrote ", , Three great chaps with whom I exchange post cards and Christmas cards every year." The scale of aircrew losses may be measured from Archie's concluding account:-
"On a visit to Berlin on 23/8/43 (exactly four weeks before being shot down) we were approaching the city from the South, and to the East and West I saw two Lancasters being `coned' in searchlights, weaving and turning, but would not have a chance when the fighter planes moved in for the kill. It saddened us, especially when we realised that their misfortune meant more safety for us. 62 planes were lost that night!
'The Bomber War" Robin Neillands (2001) Publisher - John Murray.