Collyer | Albert Henry
Biography
Albert is the son of Albert Thomas Collyer and Jessy Collyer of Peckham, London. Husband of Eileen Collyer of Peckham. Father of Eileen Josephine Collyer, who was born 8 December 1945.
Airstrip B 89 Mill
The airfield on the moors
On Sunday 17 September 1944, Allied paratroopers land at bridges on the route from Eindhoven to Arnhem. Simultaneously, a land offensive starts to force a corridor to contact airborne troops. Field Marshal Montgomery’s plan Operation Market Garden had begun. A daring attempt to rid the Netherlands of the Germans as quickly as possible and end the war soon. As is well known, the plan stalled at Arnhem.
As a result of that stalling at Nijmegen and Arnhem, the advance came to a halt and, due to the harsh winter weather, months hardly progressed and the fighting went back and forth.
Volkel airfield had been so heavily bombed by the Americans and British in late August and early September 1944 that it was abandoned so that it could be repaired.
To provide air support to the 1st Canadian Army, it was necessary to add airfields in the south-east of the Netherlands. To relieve Volkel and due to the fact that airfields Keent and Rips were no longer usable due to bad weather conditions, new locations were sought.
One such field was constructed in the winter of 44-45 in Mill, on a spur of a moor and was code-named B 89. The aim was to make this field more permanent, so reinforcement was needed during construction. That reinforcement is formed by a field company of the 50th HQ Troops Engineers, the 681st Road Construction Company and the 217th Company Pioneer Corps. The neighbouring villages of Zeeland and Langenboom housed the armies, including surrounding farms. A lot of inhabitants of Langenboom and Mill had to leave hearth and home to make way for the airfield.
With might and main, work began on 1 January 1945. Many tractors and scrapers move 300,000m3 of soil. 140 alcove huts (a shelter with an arched corrugated iron roof) and 72 barracks were built. Under harsh weather conditions and with the help of Dutch carpenters, the entire airfield with 1 runway and 2 rolling runways is brought into readiness. On 8 February 1945, 146 Wing arrives and on 8 and 9 March the 35th Army Cooperation and Photographic Reconnaissance Wing. Albert Henry Collyer is a sergeant with 35 Wing.
The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF), part of the Royal Air Force consists of 4 Groups, 2, 83, 84 and 85. The Groups are divided into Wings. Each Wing consists of squadrons. Group 2 and 85 were in Belgium and France. Group 83 and 84 were in the Netherlands.
Group 83 was based at Keent airfield, among other places. Group 84 ended up in Mill, among other places.
One of the squadrons of 146 Wing is the 266 sqn ‘Rhodesia’ with code letters ZH. The squadron of which Squadron leader Patrick Joseph Culligan is part.
The pilots of the 35th carried out many tactical reconnaissance flights over the Rhine with their Spitfires and Mustangs, strafing tugs and other vessels.
The pilots of the 146 Wing strafed many targets with Typhoon fighters, including German headquarters and bases, railway lines, railway bridges, airfields and missions against flak batteries, from which air transports were shelled.
After 16 April, both Wings move to other airfields.
On 12 April 1945, Albert Collyer sadly died in a military road accident.
He was working at 35 Wing headquarters and is buried in Grave General Cemetery in grave 536.
His headstone reads:
A bitter grief
A shock severe
To part with one we loved
So dearly. Loving wife
Along with him, Patrick Joseph Culligan of 146 Wing and Oliver Lee of 125 Wing are also buried here.
