Ivan William Cain Memorial
On the 6th October, 2012, a memorial plaque for 20-year old Typhoon pilot Warrant Officer Ivan William Cain, Royal New Zealand Air Force, was unveiled by the Mayor of Nijmegen, Mr Hubert Bruls, and the New Zealand Ambassador HE George Troup, at the corner of the Heyendaalse Weg and the Pastoor Wichersstraat, Brakkenstein, Nijmegen. Relatives of Ivan William Cain were also in attendance.
On Friday, 6h October, 1944, at a few minutes past 12 'o clock noon, the young pilot tried to land his FLAK stricken Typhoon on a small rectangular open field along what is now the Pastoor Wichersstraat. In trying to align his Typhoon for a belly landing, the aircraft stalled. At the very last moment Cain must have decided to bale out. He was found not far from his wrecked Typhoon, his parachute unopened....
Pupils of the nearby Tarcissius School have adopted the monument.
On Friday, 6h October, 1944, at a few minutes past 12 'o clock noon, the young pilot tried to land his FLAK stricken Typhoon on a small rectangular open field along what is now the Pastoor Wichersstraat. In trying to align his Typhoon for a belly landing, the aircraft stalled. At the very last moment Cain must have decided to bale out. He was found not far from his wrecked Typhoon, his parachute unopened....
Pupils of the nearby Tarcissius School have adopted the monument.
Shortly before the Typhoon entered a right-hand turn for the emergemcy landing, W/O Cain fired his last rocket projectiles. Unfortunately Mrs Elizabeth Swertz - Ekker was fataly hit by debris from the exploding rockets. She is also commemorated on this memorial. Mr Nick Lambrechtsen adds, that the Brakkenstein memorial was unveiled on 6th October 2012.
For detailed information on Ivan Cain's crash landing on this fateful autumn morning in 1944, please visit the Noviomagus.nl website, researched and compiled by Mr Arjen W. Kuiken, Gennep: the Brakkenstein Crash
W/O I.W. Cain MemorialThe memorial is placed on the corners of the Pastoor Wichersstraat and the Heyendaalse Weg, in Brakkenstein, Nijmegen.
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