How I remember the air crash at “Vesterager” Stadil, September 1943

Above from left: Erling Halkjær, Maren Andersen, Helge Frederiksen, Anders Andersen with the propeller blade at the EE138 crash site.

“I was 19 years old and spent that year assisting my parents running their farm which is located at the northwestern part of the Stadil parish.
My room was facing north and at the night when the crash occurred I woke up by a sudden very strong light which illuminated the entire room. I jumped out of bed and hurried to the living room having windows facing south.
I recognized the typical engine sound from an airplane and soon realized that a plane which had caught fire was about to crash down.
I watched how the burning plane followed by a tail of flames was gliding south at very low altitude.
Suddenly the plane could no longer be seen and everything became very silent.
Meantime my parents had also been woken up by the noise and strong light from the burning plane . We agreed that the plane had crashed not very far away but could not know the nationality of the plane. We sat up late and found it difficult to calm down following this dramatic incident.
The next day we found out that it was one of the Allied planes had been shot down by a German. We and several others visited the place of the air-crash but it was a very wet area and it was very difficult to get close to the spot of impact.
That night I will never forget.”

- Maren Andersen, Stadil  October 2011

Min oplevelse af flystyrtet på Vesterager i Stadil, 1943
Jeg boede på min fødegård i Stadil. Gården ligger yderst ude mod nordvest i sognet.
Jeg var 19 år, og var den vinter ung pige i huset derhjemme. Jeg sov i et værelse, som
vendte mod nord.
Den nat, hvor flystyrtet fandt sted vågnede jeg ved et pludseligt, skarpt lys, som
oplyste hele værelset. Jeg sprang forskrækket ud af sengen og løb ind i stuen med
vindue mod syd. Jeg blev hurtigt klar over, at et fly var i yderste nød – kunne jo også
høre lyden ganske tydeligt. Fra stuevinduet kunne jeg nu følge det ”lysende” fly
sydpå. Det fløj meget lavt og der stod en mægtig lysflamme efter det. Pludselig var
flyet væk og alt blev stille.
Mine forældre var i mellemtiden også stået op, vækket af lys og larm. Vi var enige
om, at flyet måtte være styrtet ned i umiddelbar nærhed. Men vi vidste jo ikke,
hvilket fly, der var tale om. Vi sad længe oppe, kunne ikke sådan lige falde til ro efter
den dramatiske hændelse.
Først dagen efter fik vi vished. Et af de allieredes fly var blevet skudt ned af tyskerne,
som gennem hele krigen befandt sig langs den jyske vestkyst.
Vi og mange andre kørte ud til ulykkestedet. Det var et meget blødt område, så det
var svært at komme tæt på.
Det er en nat, jeg aldrig vil glemme.

- Maren Andersen, Stadil October 2011