Very exclusive canvas with black wooden baking frame. The canvas depicts the last hours of the Mission Belle struggling through the air heavily damaged.
With commemorative text and logos of 535st bomb squadron and 381st bomb group.
The B-17G "Mission Belle" was an American bomber from the 535th Squadron, 381st Bombardment Group, which crashed into the Lek River between Nieuw-Lekkerland and Streefkerk on December 1, 1943. The aircraft, serial number 42-31097, was en route to Leverkusen for a bombing mission when it was hit by anti-aircraft fire (FLAK) over Germany. Over the Netherlands, it was further damaged by a German fighter, after which it crashed into the Lek
.Of the ten crew members, three were killed: tail gunner John A. Healey, who was dead before the plane hit the water, and Harland V. Sunde and Doyle C. McCutchen, who came out of the plane badly injured but could not reach the shore and drowned. The remaining seven crew members were taken prisoner of war and transported to Germany, where they remained until the end of the war.
On the initiative of concerned residents, a monument was unveiled on September 29, 2018, on the Lekdijk between Nieuw-Lekkerland and Streefkerk, in memory of the crew of the "Mission Belle." The monument consists of three granite columns with photos and names of the perished crew members, with a silhouette of the aircraft in front of it and four boulders with information about the crash and the crew.
The monument commemorating the "Mission Belle" is located along the Lekdijk between Nieuw-Lekkerland and Streefkerk.