A group of volunteers is searching for information about Ian Douglas Crawford, a member of the crew of Halifax JB803 which crashed in 1943. Crawford is believed to be either second from the left or second from the right in this photo. (Contributed photo)
By Vanessa Broadbent
Osoyoos Times
On April 30, 1943 a crew of seven commonwealth air men were on a mission from Elvington, England to Essen, Germany. However, north of Amsterdam their Halifax Handley Page bomber plane was intercepted by Nazi night fighter ace Heinz Vinke and the men never reached their destination.
Now, over 75 years later, a group of volunteers in the Netherlands is commemorating the crash with a monument near the city of Muiden where the plane went down. They’re searching globally for information on one of the victims, believed to have connections to Osoyoos.
Ian Douglas Crawford, a flight engineer and sergeant with the Royal Air Force in England during World War II, was one of two Canadians on board the Halifax JB803.
The plane suffered severe damage and was forced to descend to a lower altitude where pilot Sgt. Gordon Watson ordered the crew to bail out.
Five of the seven men, including Crawford, jumped out of the plane which attempted to make an emergency landing in a flooded meadow but exploded.
Crawford and the other four men all drowned in the Ijsselmeer, a bay near Amsterdam, and all but one were found ashore days later.
Ian Douglas Crawford was on board a Handley Page Halifax bomber when it crashed near Amsterdam. The crash site will soon be the location for a monument commemorating the event and its victims. (Contributed photo)
David van Coolwijk, one of the volunteers creating the monument, has made it his mission to uncover Crawford’s history.
Van Coolwijk, a self-proclaimed aviation buff, has visited the crash site and graves of the men involved regularly for years. He jumped on the opportunity to help create a monument.
However, he was surprised to find that none of the victims’ families had been located or contacted, and no information on the men was available.
“Of course the monument will be mainly for the people of Muiden, but I think that the families need to be involved as well,” van Coolwijk said.
“What story do you want to tell if you have no background stories of the crew? A name written in cold stone doesn’t say anything, so bring these men back to life with a picture of them.”
In the past year, van Coolwijk has successfully unearthed backstories on five of the seven crew members, but very little is known about the remaining two – one being Crawford.
So far, van Coolwijk has discovered that Crawford was born in Scotland to John and Jean Crawford and that his older brother, John Crawford Jr., emigrated to Osoyoos after World War II.
According to an article published in the Feb. 8, 1979 issue of the Osoyoos Times, archived at the Osoyoos Museum, Crawford Jr. passed away on Jan. 31 that year at the age of 74.
The article states that Crawford Jr., also called Jock, worked in construction; he built two sawmills in Okanagan Falls and Princeton and oversaw building for several highway and railway bridges in B.C.
He moved to Osoyoos in 1965 and lived in town until his passing, and was survived by his wife Hedwig (Hedy).
“I hope that a family member of Crawford in Osoyoos recognizes any of this and can provide the information I am looking for, or hopefully points me in the right direction,” van Coolwijk said. “I found out that there are several Crawfords in Osoyoos so I hope one of them is related!”
Anyone with information or photographs of Ian Douglas Crawford can reach van Coolwijk by emailing in[email protected].
