First bomb to drop on German soil & it was an accident

Came across this while looking for other things.........

On 3 December 1939 twenty four Wellingtons attacked German warships at Heligoland. A Wellington of 115 Squadron suffered a hung up bomb on its bombing run which later accidentally dropped on the island, it hit an AA battery on the shore.


Maybe a question for a trivia quiz?

 

Peter
Do we have any idea of the damage/casulties it caused? It just about fits the bill for the RAF at that Time

 

Good bit of research there. Its always amazing to be able to pinpoint these events so acurately, especially given the who bombed who first argument (which I always thought was secondary to both who started the war and the terror bombings of Holland).

 

There was an earlier accident on September 4 1939 when some RAF bombs were dropped on the town of Elbjerg in Denmark.
The first British "homefront" casualy, in March 1940, was in very similar circumstances during a German raid on the ships at Scapa Flow.

 

Sorry to correct you, the name of the Danish town on the westcoast of Jutland, was Esbjerg. please forgive my spelling

Regards Torben, Denmark

 

The first of 69 Australians in the Air Force buried in Denmark, and the 34 which are buried in Esbjerg (Fourfelt) Cemetery was this lad and other crew of 7sq RAF.



407077 Flying Officer KINNANE, John (MID)
Source:
AWM 237 (65) NAA : A705, 163/41/49 Commonwealth War Graves records
W R Chorley : RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Page 79
Volume 1941.
Aircraft Type: Stirling
Serial number: N 6013
Radio call sign: MG -
Unit: ATTD 7 SQN RAF
Summary:
Stirling N6013 took off from RAF Oakington at 1200 hours on 1 July 1941 to bomb
Borkum, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to
return to base.
Crew:
RAAF 407077 FO Kinnane, J MID Captain (Pilot)
RAF Sgt F G Taylor (Flight Engineer)
RCAF PO Elliott, J G *
RAF PO Bolton, T E *
RAF Flt Sgt B Nicholls, (Wireless Air Gunner)
RAF Sgt W G Marsh, *
RAF Sgt K Huntley, *
* Available records do not disclose musters
It was later established that the aircraft was last seen north west of Texel circling a
dinghy and trying to fight off air attacks by a pair of ME109’s. It was presumed that the
aircraft was shot down in this area at approx 1515 hours and all the crew were killed.
FO Kinnane, Sgt Taylor and Flt Sgt Nicholls are buried in the Esbjerg (Fourfelt)
Cemetery, Denmark. Esbjerg is a major port on the west coast of Jutland.
Fo Kinnane’s body was washed ashore at Ribe and he was buried on 11/7/1941.
Sgt Taylor’s body was washed ashore at Visby and he was buried on 18/9/1941
Flt Sgt Nicholl’s body was washed ashore at Darum and he was buried on 18/8/1941.
It was presumed that the remaining four crew members had lost their lives at sea and their
names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Runnymede, Surrey, UK.
FO Kinnane’s MID was promulgated in the London Gazette on 1/1/1942.

 

I think at that time the rules of engagement , you could only engage enemy ships at sea for fear of killing 'innocent civillians' and damaging 'private property' ,
and this was in Daylight , probably in Hampdens or Blenheims .

 

I think at that time the rules of engagement , you could only engage enemy ships at sea for fear of killing 'innocent civillians' and damaging 'private property' ,
and this was in Daylight , probably in Hampdens or Blenheims .

From what I have, the Esbjerg incident was from a 15 Wellington force made up of 9 and 149 squadrons against warships at Brunsbüttel. At the same time 14 Blemheim attacked the ships at Willhelmhaven (hope I got the spellling right this time).
Not sure about the "at sea" part of the original RoE as the German warships were likely to be in port, but a few bombers came back with the bombs on board as they had not been able to identify the targets, a far cry from the late war policies.
A number of RAF recon or leaflet dropping planes crashed over German territory before the December episode, there may gave been ground casualties from debris, but as far as I know none had bombs on board.

 

Many years ago I worked with a lady who's boyfriend was missing presumed killed in
the leaflet dropping phase of the phoney war.
Details as I recall took off from Dishforth and where never heard from again, she never married and died back in 2008 in her early nineties

Her theory was they ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea comming back, I never did get his name so could not research the incident.