243750 Sgt. David Glassman Royal Air Force 51 Squadron from:Hackney, London (d.11th Jun 1943 ) My father, Sgt David Glassman aged 22, was killed on the 12th of June 1943 on his first operation for 51 Squadron. The aircraft was a Halifax MK2 bomber HR788 and took off from RAF Snaith at 23:51 on 11th of June 1943 on a bombing mission to Dusseldorf and was not heard of again. This aircraft was one of three 51 Squadron aircraft lost that night. His remains were not found.
My mother at the time was twenty years old and three months pregnant and my father was 22. Not knowing my father and for many year afterwards most of the details were never told to me, even though we were very close to my father's family.
I immigrated to Israel 45 years ago and the story of my father has been passed onto my kids and grandchildren as much as I knew. When finally I asked my mother some pertinent questions later on in life, the answers were very vague, all I knew was my father's RAF number and his base where he took off on the fatal mission.
I started to look through the internet and slowly with the help of many people in the RAF the whole picture became clearer. The RAF sent me the daily flight log and also the planes number, my mother always thought it was a Wellington bomber, but it turned out to be a Halifax. This was all a few years ago and then a couple of days ago I received a message from the RAF 51 Squadron History Society who were following up a Dutchman's inquiry into the grave that he adopted in Holland of one of the fallen airmen. The society got in touch with me and it is now an ongoing story, down to the fact of the German pilot who shot down the plane.
What would we ever do without the internet that seems to be used for all sorts of bad and misleading things, and then a story like mine makes it all worth well.
Thank you to all those who have helped me and that are continuing to help me.
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