Lancastermonument Asten

In memory of the seven crew members: 
- Sergeant Alexander SHIELS, upper turret gunner, aged 21, from Auchinloch (Lanarkshire)
- Officer Lawrence SMITH, bomb aimer/nose turret gunner, aged 21, from Westmeath (Ontario, Canada)
- Sergeant Alexander McJANNETT, radio operator, married, aged 21, of Wigston Magna (Leicestershire)
- Officer Alfred McKAY, navigator, aged 21, from Knockando (Morayshire)
- Sergeant Roy LAYBOURNE, flight engineer, aged 21, from Worsley (Lancashire)
- Sergeant Harold DYERSON, tail gunner, aged 32, from Plaistow (Essex) . 
- Officer George NICHOLLS, pilot, married, aged 32, from Heamoor, Penzance (Cornwall)

On the night of 26/27 April 1944, the Lancaster ND 873 aircraft of the 12th squadron departed from RAF base Wickenby for a bombing flight on Essen in the Ruhr region. Nearly 500 aircraft participated in this attack, including 342 Lancaster. 

On the way back, the plane was shot down by a German Messerschmitt and crashed in a blaze in the Astense river Aa in 'De Berken'. All seven crew members were killed in the crash. They were buried in the Jonkerbos British Cemetery in Nijmegen. 

The monument was erected in 2006 and is situated on the hiking trail along the Astense Aa river in the nature reserve 'De Berken', northeast of Asten, just north of the A67 highway. 

Designer: Jan Berkers (1934) 
Type: Memorial stone 
Location: 'De Berken', Asten