27) Monument to the crew members of 3 Lancasters

From 21 to 22 July 1944 Kortrijk experienced a terrible night. In two waves, 302 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitoes dropped their deadly payload. The target was the station of Kortrijk, for the Germans a crucial link for the supply of war material to France. In Kortrijk, 250 people were killed and hundreds injured. Three Lancasters Mk.I landed on the territory of Kortrijk and Bissegem: the W4967 SR-P of the 101 Squadron RAF (at the Carmelite Monastery, Kortrijk), the LM101 PO-J of the 467 Squadron RAAF (Vercruysselaan, Kortrijk) and the PD205 WS-H of the 9 Squadron RAF (Bissegem).

A hundred meters from the place where the aircraft of the 9 Squadron came down, on the banks of the Leie in Bissegem, on the Wevelgemsevoetweg, a beautiful monument was unveiled 65 years later. The initiative for the monument came from the War Association to Remember Belgium.

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