Wellington W5557 on Hatfield Moor.

On the 27th of September 1941 the crew on this aircraft were returning from Ops to Cologne and were on their approach to land at Lindholme in poor visibility when, at 01.30hrs the aircraft stalled in the Hatfield Moor area. The aircraft crashed beside a river and sadly four members of the Polish crew died as a result of the accident, with at least one of these passing away in Doncaster Royal Infirmary. There is also a possibility that three civilians in the nearby farm house also died after part of the aircraft struck the house although this has yet to be proven and their names are not yet known.

This was the first fatal Polish bomber accident in Yorkshire, sadly there were a number of the Lindholme area and many of the dead were taken over the county border and buried in the Polish plot of Newark Cemetery.

Some photographs of the crash site appear on the "oldairfield.fotopic.net" website. The site has now next to a widelife haven, the area was flooded some years ago.

Pilot - Sgt Eugene Buszko PAF (P/780447), aged 27. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

WOp - Sgt Jerzy S Leyche PAF (P/781385), aged 23. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

AG - Sgt Wictor Wasilenko PAF (P/781021), aged 18. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

2nd Pilot - Sgt Tadeusz Korczyk PAF (P/780686), aged 27. Died of injuries the following day. Buried Newark Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

Nav - P/O Stanislaw Barzdo PAF, injured.

Sgt Zdzislaw Pisarek PAF, injured.

A ghost nick-named "Lindholme Willy", "Billy Lindholme" or "Pete the Pole" has reputed to have been seen a number of time on Lindholme airfield and in cells of the prison which now occupy the site. He is believed to have been the ghost of one of the crew killed in the accident to W5557. In addition to this story is that the body of a Polish airman was found in the area on 23rd July 1987 during peat cutting by a local farmer, various stories exist as to whether he was identified or not, but he was buried at Newark and the ghost stories have apparently ceased since then.
F/Lt Barzdo was killed on 4th May 1942 flying in 305 Squadron Wellington Z8406 on Ops to Hamburg, he was 26 years old. He was posthumously awarded the Polish Virtuti Militari.