Somewhere along the way I read this story. During WW2 a lone Messerschmitt Bf-110 was shot down at Old Shelves Farm somewhat east of the village of Lenham, Kent. Believe the German aircraft shot up main street Lenham killing a but a cow and forced to crash land with the German crew captured soon after. Can anyone expand on this topic with additional specifics perhaps identifying the German aircraft tail number and which the squadron that was credited with shooting it down? Thank you in advance! Bill
Bill, I think our legendary member Peter Clare is probably your best hope on this query, hopefully he will see it soon and add some detail. Mike
Hardly, if the details 'east of Lenham', 'crashlanded', and 'crew captured' are to be believed. However, I agree this is the only Bf110 I have down near Lenham during 1940.
From "Zestroyer- The Me-110 and its Units in 1940" John J. Vasco and Peter D. Cornwall. JAC Publications 1995). Oblt. Heinz Hellmuth and Fw Franz Winter of 6/ZG26 , both killed. Shot down by Hurricanes of 56 Squadron, final attack by P/O Mounsdon. Platts Heath Lenham. ATB "Battle of Britan Then and Now" (III edition) give the time of the shooting down as being 13.40 hrs. No identification of the aircraft is given. They note that Steve Vizard Collection have parts of the aircraft in their possession.
Stan, Hello and welcome to the forum. Excellent first post with first hand historical information. Regards Tom
I believe the aircraft you are talking about was the Me 110 shot down at Cobham Farm (which is on the Lenham/Charing road) at around 17.00 on 11 September 1940. This was U8+HL of 2./ZG 76. Fw Brinkmann and Uffz Kruesphow both POW. I have several quite well-known photopgraphs of this incident. I will scan and post one of them later. Hope this helps?
This site might be of some help to you, it was for me when I was looking for info on a downed plane in WW2 in my area http://aviation-safety.net/index.php
I am not sure the incident in question is listed there. I am fairly confident the episode detailed in my previous post is the one.
I believe the aircraft you are talking about was the Me 110 shot down at Cobham Farm (which is on the Lenham/Charing road) at around 17.00 on 11 September 1940. This was U8+HL of 2./ZG 76. Fw Brinkmann and Uffz Kruesphow both POW. I have several quite well-known photopgraphs of this incident. I will scan and post one of them later. Hope this helps? Andy I would love to see those not so well-known photographs to me. Bill
Untitled Document Lenham WW2 Shows how careful one has to be, on Google Earth at Lenham a white cross with the legend WW2 Battle of Britain Crash Site. Yet on checking: The cross was constructed in 1922 as a war memorial from donated funds from the village. The school headmaster Mr C.H Groom designed the cross and the commemorative stone / enclosure. The annual memorial service was held at the site until the 1960 when it was moved to the local church along with the commemorative stones. The cross was covered with earth during the second world war and removed in May 1945. The cross was cleaned every few years until 1994 when new chalk was added.
