De Jager, H C (Hendrik Christiaan)
De Jager, H C (Hendrik Christiaan)
Hendrik Christiaan De Jager served in the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, with 1847 Squadron[1], based in Eglinton, Northern Ireland.
On the 18th of May 1944 at approximately 22:20 a message was received by the Royal Air Force Search and Rescue unit based in Eglinton that two Hellcat Mk I FN390-M’s[2] had ditched into the river Foyle after an accident in the air when the fighter planes collided while doing night-time manoeuvers at an attitude of around 300 meters just after 22:00. They were JV182 (flown by Sergeant Francisus Cornelis Marie Brogtrop (Service Number: 94036) and FN376 (flown by Second Lieutenant Hendrik Christiaan De Jager).
It did not take long to find the planes which were in shallow waters. A body was soon recovered. It was that of Second Lieutenant Hendrik Christiaan De Jager. The other pilot could not be found. The next day the unit returned, but unfortunately were unable to locate Sergeant Brogtrop.
Sometime later though, the missing body of the Sergeant was recovered when it washed ashore. He was later laid to rest in Creggan Roman Catholic Churchyard, though later exhumed and moved to Mill Hill Cemetery in London (plot 1, row B, grave 8.)
The two planes which were tragically involved in this incident were salvaged a month later from the waters.
Second Lieutenant Hendrik Christiaan De Jager and Sergeant Francisus Cornelis Marie Brogtrop were laid to rest with full military funerals.
Out of the twelve pilots who were originally in 1847 Squadron, six had now died, all in training accidents. The squadron would soon be no more, 5 days later it was dissolved and absorbed into 1840 squadron.
Date of Death: 18/05/1944
Service: 2e Luitenant Vlieger, ML. ged. KM. Royal Netherlands Navy Air Service, 1847 Squadron.
Service Number: NK
Burial Location: Faughanvale (Saint Canice) Church of Ireland Churchyard, Grave 16.
[1] 1847 Squadron consisted of 12 pilots, four British and eight from the Royal Netherlands Navy. It had just been formed on the 1st of February 1944, but due to the loss of 6 pilots during training the squadron was disbanded and merged into 1840 Squadron on the 20th of May 1944.
[2] Grumman F6F Hellcat was primarily a Carrier fighter plane produced by the United States which first flew it on the 26th of June 1942, going into full service a year later.
