On 8th May 1942 a Heinkel 111 from Kampfgeschwader 100 – 1 Staffel pathfinder was shot down. The plane hit a power line near Patcham, Sussex. It broke up and all the crew were killed. They are buried in Brighton City Cemetery. Can anyone tell me their ranks and where I might find a photograph of them The Crew: Uff. Wilhelm Markl. Lt R Oepen, Uff. J. Luksch, Uff F Kuttner and Uff Driessen. The bomber was an He111H-6 serial 6N+HR (5791) which crashed at 2.55am Any information on the plane appreciated Thank you Bala
The crash is mentioned in Blitz over Sussex by Burgess & Saunders from Middleton Press. It was published in 1994 and states that parts of the aircraft are/were still being discovered in the fields and hedgerows where the bomber crashed even then. The book is part of a 3 volume set and not too expensive that briefly details all the known wartime crashes in the county as well as some of the V weapon incidents. Lots of photographs, a couple from this crash, the one I mentioned in the other book of the tailplane guarded by a bobby and observed by a few onlookers and another of a memorial card printed for the family of one of the crew, Uff. Wilhelm Markl. The rest of the crew were Lt R Oepen, Uff. J. Luksch, Uff F Kuttner and Uff Driessen. The bomber was an He111H-6 serial 6N+HR which crashed at 2.55am. For interest Andy Saunders is doing a talk on oddities of the Battle of Britain this month with the Lewes Military History Soc. that I hope to go along to. I assume it will cover Sussex in a bit more detail. The Beaufighter that claimed the Heinkel was from 219 Sqn piloted by Sqn ldr John Groves with Fg Off Horace Walter William Berridge the air gunner. They ere veterans of the Battle of Britain when flying Blenheim IF’s and by all accounts a deadly night fighting ace team who claimed over a dozen enemy aircraft. Both survived the war and were decorated. I am sure Ian might have a bit more detail of the crash if he owns the relevant volume of the Luftwaffe Crash Archive series which I do not (yet). The authors of this series might also have some more information if you try them directly (combat reports, constabulary reports etc). Simon Parry has been of invaluable assistance to me regarding my own research of aircraft downed in my parish and might be able to shed some more light on the crash although as it did not happen during The Battle of Britain I don’t know whether he has as much information to hand. Luftwaffe Crash Sites
Luftwaffe Crash Sites[/QUOTE] Many thanks. I don't know Ian please can you tell me his contact details? Best wishes
For the ranks they are Uff = Unteroffizier and the Lt = Leutnant. Oepen was the pilot Luksch was the Observer Markl & Driessen were Air Gunners Kuttner was the Radio Operator. It has 1 & a half pages in Vol 9 of Luftwaffe Crash Archive (pages 1074 & 1075) including 3 photos.
Many thanks that answers my question about ranks. My father was an officer and a photo appeared in the "Star" a now defunk local paper which shows him inspecting the wreckage. I have been trying to get a better quality photo but not found one yet. I shall try to look at the photos in the Luftwaffe Crash Archives Thanks again
Luftwaffe - Kampfgeschwader 100 – 1 Staffel pathfinder What were the markings for this plane? 7/KG100 Heinkel He 111H-6 (4791)
I read recently that the RAF had the card indices and other personnel records for the Luftwaffe and held a very large collection of records in London immediately post-war. They will be in Germany now. This site might help : Bundesarchiv Internet - Übertragung der Aufgaben der Deutschen Dienststelle (WASt) an das Bundesarchiv
The British archives also contain the AI1(g) reports on the technical aspects of the crashed aircraft and where applicable the AI(k) interrogation reports of all captured airmen. The captured Luftwaffe Quartermaster General's Returns of Aircraft Losses (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe Gen. QU/6 Abteilung/40.g. Kdos IC) are held on microfilm by the Imperial War Museum, London. For example, this particular aircraft was fitted with a new type of balloon cutter to the leading edge of the wing and one bomb bay cell was removed and replaced with a petrol tank.
presumably a Kuto-Nase The German Cable Cutter, WWII Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 18, February 11, 1943 (Lone Sentry) perhaps also of interest Info over lost of Markl Wilhelm 1942? - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
The picture is a „best guess“ as for the Luftwaffe A/C appearances the only hard and fast rule is there is no hard and fast rule Clearly visible the X-Gerät antennaea, giving these peculiar Heinkels the nickname Dreimaster (threemaster) By means of the extremely scarce picturial evidence I guess the A/C is overall painted in RLM 74 Swastika was clearly overpainted with black distemper, same is to assume for Balkenkreuz and undersurface as this was common practice in 1942 proved by numerous contemporary photographs Equipped with „X-Gerät“ makes these A/C already a speciality, the mentioned mounting of a „Kuto-Nase“ on a H-6 makes it a special speciality P2 shows a sketch of the Kuto mounted on the H-10 version as shown in aircraft number 184, signal squadron publications
Erprobung – testing Kommando – unit entrusted with certain tasks operational history: 1.1.42 formed in Märkisch-Friedland from 2./Kampfgruppe 100 as dedicated Zielfindereinheit (Pathfinder) renamed Erprobungskommando (EKdo) XY and transferred to Chartes 3.42 renamed EKdo 100 (first incorrectly identified as 7./KG 100 by British Intel) 6.42 renamed EKdo 17 9.42 redesignated 15./KG 6 5.43 amalgated with I./KG 6 5.45 disbanded Neumünster
Itdan Thanks again so useful. A newspaper clipping with a photograph showing my father who was an army officer examining wreckage of the tail section of a luftwaffe bomber, got me started looking for more information. I learned that a RAF night-fighter, a beaufighter from 219 Squadron shot it down on the night of 8th May 1942. It hit a power line and broke up and so sadly all the crew died. I now have photographs of the headstones of the 5 crew members who are buried in Brighton City Cemetery. What I wonder now is if there are photos of the crew members and a bit of information on the flight - the target and if there is a report on the bombing raid. I attach a photo of the 16 German graves in Brighton City Cemetery Kind regards
Documents are extremely scarce and difficult to obtain. In a nutshell: 70 bombers attacked Norwich unsuccessful (Baedeker raids). The EKdo guided bombers from KG 2/Eindhoven (Do 217) and (not entirely sure) Küstenfliegergruppe 106/Dinard (Ju 88)
The EKdo 100 Heinkels started from Chartres and were the pathfinders for the Norwich raid They had a specific flight path caused by the X-system: German Navigation The other bombers made different approaches to Norwich
