Type: Fokker C.V-D
Part: III-2 LvR
Crash date: 12th May 1940
Crash location: De Keij, Lakemondsestraat, Opheusden
Commander: 1st SgtFl. G.F. Roeloffzen
Occupants: 2
It was around 19:30 hours on that 12th May when 1st Sergeant-Flyer Gerd Roeloffzen and Observer Sergeant Hans Holtz were shot out of the sky with their Fokker C.V-D number 592 by German fighter aircraft. They landed right in front of the Dutch lines after an emergency landing, near the De Keij farm.
The aircraft flipped over, was thrown meters high across the Rhine’s winter dike and hit the ground quite some distance further on. There wasn’t a great deal left of the plane. But, against all odds, both occupants managed to survive.
You can find a fantastic report of the spectacular events through pilot Gerd Roeloffzen’s eyes here.
The Fokker C.V-D’s crash site, as seen from the air.
The Fokker C.V-D with number 592, which Roeloffzen and Holtz would later crash with, in better times.
The crew of the Fokker C.V-D number 592: on the left 1st sergeant pilot Gerd Roeloffzen, on the right observer reserve sergeant Hans Holtz.
The Fokker just after the crash.