Gedenkmonument Lancaster VN_ZED810
Stef Van Eyck
2016
Details
- Collection: Ekeren, War and peace, The collection
- Material: metal
- Acquisition method: commision
- Object number: KIS.0207
The Lancaster VN_ZED810 Memorial, a work by Stef Van Eyck from 2016, is a tribute to the crew of the Lancaster III ED810 VN-Z of the 50th Squadron, who died during the Second World War. The monument commemorates the night of 14–15 June 1943, when the aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter and crashed in Laar, Ekeren.
The artwork represents a wing of the combat aircraft, with the seven fragments symbolising the seven crew members who perished: Albert Victor Crawford (pilot), Arthur Ernest Davey (navigator), Joseph Brown McHendry (radio operator), William George Reed (bomber), Leslie Toal (flight engineer), Charles Joseph Buckle (mid-upper gunner) and Kenneth Ivor Bowerman (rear gunner).
The monument stands about one hundred metres from the crash site and was inaugurated on 17 June 2016 in the presence of the British ambassador Alison Rose and the 93-year-old brother of the pilot.
Stef Van Eyck (b. 1956) studied Jewellery and Silversmithing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and later sculpture at the I.K.O. in Hoogstraten. He is known for his work in assemblage and recycling art, making use of repurposed materials to create both sculptures and utilitarian objects.
More information about Antwerp and the Second World War can be found here.
