Air Crew Europe Star Group Casualty Shot Down By Reinhard Kollak On First Op

Air Crew Europe Star, 1999-1945 Star and 1939–1945 War Medal  awarded to 1382321 Sergeant David Glassman of the RAF Volunteer Reserve. The medals are in excellent condition, unnamed as issued with original ribbons, transmittal slip and air ministry box addressed to his parents, Mr & Mrs Glassman.

Sergeant Glassman was a member of 51 Squadron. On the 11th June 1943 he was the wireless operator onboard Halifax II HR788 which took off from RAF Snaith at 23:51 on route to to bomb Dusseldorf.  The operations record book for 51 Squadron entry states “nothing further was heard of this machine after it had taken off. The bomb load comprised 2 x 1000lb G.P., 48x30lb and 630x 4lb incendiaires”.  This was part of a large scale raid involving 783 aircraft in total – 326 Lancasters, 202 Halifaxes, 143 Wellingtons, 99 Stirlings and 13 Mosquitos. 38 Aircraft were lost – 14 Lancasters, 12 Halifaxes, 10 Wellingtons and 2 Stirlings.

Halifax HR788 was shot down 93 minutes after take off just off Zealand on the Dutch coast by a  Messerschmitt Bf 110 piloted by Reinhard Kollak of 7./NJG 4, detached to 1./NJG 1 at 01:24 (Nachtjagd Combat Archive January-June 1943). It was his third victory of that night and 22nd overall. He survived the war with a total of 49 victories, all at night. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. He was the highest scoring non commissioned Nachtjagd pilot.

Sergeant Glassman’s body was never recovered (he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial). Of the six other crew members of the aircraft the flight engineer 632404 Sergeant G Ruff was also never recovered. The pilot, 656484 Flight Sergeant J J Anderson, the bomb aimer 658031 Sergeant A E Brodie and the rear gunner 1473151 Sergeant GE Evans are buried at the Bergen op Zoom cemetery in the Netherlands. The navigator, 1098278  Sergeant A R Helliwell and the upper mid gunner 1266090 Sergeant F J Biddle are buried at the Vlissingen cemetery.

The Jews of the RAF website, which is currently offline, had an entry for David Glassman with photographs. He married Queenie Wecksler in 1942 and she was pregnant with his son, Daniel, at the time of his loss. I can find details of the marriage on Ancestry – and also the 1939 register has him as an upholsterer living at the address of his parents on the Air Ministry box but I can’t trace a record of the birth of his son.  I have a printed copy of the Jews of the RAF page for him which I’ve scanned. There’s also pictures of David and his wife, and a colour version has been added to his entry on Ancestry. I can’t verify any of this information. I suspect that the research that’s been done is correct and the photos are from a family member that owned these medals and has since passed away. That is purely conjecture on my part though.

Please note. I have not printed a copy of the Bomber Command memorial plaque photograph.

In the interests of completeness I’ve checked the other 11 Halifax losses of that night (Kollak claims a Halifax in that area but not by number). The closest was HR797, over 65 miles away at IJmuiden and according to surviving crew was hit by flak near Amsterdam. HR788 is the only candidate for Kollak’s Halifax victory that night.

I’m auctioning this group with a £1 start and no reserve. I’m not taking offers, the auction will run to the end. Any questions, please get in touch.

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