Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hello to all,

we are now checking a few last things before to start the lay-out of JG 2 volume 2 (1941).

Face to the amount of confirmed claims by JG 2 and JG 26 at the evening of 23 June 1941 (no less than 5 Spitfires and 5 Blenheims for JG 2 as well as 5 Spitfires and 1 Blenheim for JG 26), I wonder if I have not missed a few losses at the RAF side.
I found :
_ two Blenheims (V5517 and V6195) of N° 107 Squadron
_ two Spitfires (R6761 and P7975) of N° 93 and 485 Sq
as well as the Spitfire (P8330) of N° 303 (Polish) Sq damaged.

An overclaiming isn't, for sure, not very rare, but this one appears to be remarkable. Does anyone have losses that I should have missed?

Thanks in advance for your remarks and best wishes for 2008!

Erik
www.luftwaffe.be

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi Erik

I can offer the following from my notes, but have no times.

2 Spits 609 Sqn damaged in combat
Spit 92 Sqn FTR (Bowen-Morris)
Spit 485 Sqn FTR (Bullen)
Spit 603 Sqn damaged (Lamb)
2 Spits 266 Sqn damaged

Spit 603 Sqn damaged (Douglas)
Spit 616 Sqn FTR (Beedham)
Spit 303 Sqn damaged (Gladych)

2 Blenheim 107 Sqn FTR (Redfern-Smith and Fairbanks)
Blenheim 107 Sqn c/landed (Ballands Z6271)
2 Blenheim 53 Sqn FTR (Bolton and Hewson)

Hope this helps.
Happy New Year
Brian

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi Erik,

The evening action was Circus No.20 to Mardyck. I have these losses for that sweep:

92 Sqn
Spitfire V, R6761 destroyed
Sgt Bowen-Morris, WIA & POW

303 Sqn
Spitfire II, P8330 damaged
P/O Gladych, WIA

609 Sqn
Spitfire V, W3240 damaged
F/L Richey
and
Spitfire V, ??? damaged
P/O Wilmet

616 Sqn
Spitfire II, P7435 destroyed
Sgt Beedham

107 Sqn
Blenheim IV, V5517 destroyed
F/O Fairbanks & crew, POW
and
Blenheim IV, V6195 destroyed
F/O Redfern-Smith & crew, KIA
and
Blenheim IV, Z6271 damaged
Sgt Ballands & crew, Sgt Sanders KIA

Happy New Year,
Michal Havrda

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Erik,

Found as other Spits than you've already mentioned:

P8025 485 Sqn damaged
P8170 266 Sqn damaged
R7253 611 Sqn damaged

Unfortunately no times known.

The two 53 Squadron Blenheims being lost on 23 June 1941 as in Brian's reply: likely to have had no part in Circus 20?

Groet,

Leendert
Brugge/Belgium

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Six Blenheims were escorted by 242 and 303 Sqns. German attack resulted in fierce dog fights involving Blenheims. One Polish pilot reported a Me 109 wearing yellow stripes exploded under his fire. P/O Bolesław Gładych flying P8330 RF-D collided or rammed a Me 109 and was wounded by a piece of German aircraft.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941-Gladych
 

Wasn't this the sortie where PO Gladych was unconscious and his Spitfire crash landed on the grounds of a hospital?
There is good description of this combat in "Polish Aces"-Osprey, pg 50-51. At least 8 Bf-109E/Fs were shot down on this date, most from JG-2.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi Michal,

From the log-book of P/O Wilmet dated June 23, 1941 : Spit Vb W3207 - Offensive Sweep - 1.25 h - Forced landed at Hawkinge.

Happy New Year

Rgds.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Indeed. He landed in field near Manston unconscious destroying his aircraft.

M. Gladych-Second Career
 

While trolling through the Internet, I found this
"In 2001, a physical injury led Susan to Yogi master Michael Gladych, age 95".

Someone should definitively write his biography.Working Title - "From WWII fighter pilot to Yogi master"!

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Oh, he is not that old, he will be 90 the next (still) year. He is a very interesting character, but it is extremely hard to separate facts from fiction in his case. There are thousands of stories about him and his achievements. Also, it seems that he and Lanny Łanowski for a period flew combat missions as members of no Air Force. His early post-war period seems a bit mysterious as well. The problem is that the old man himself is not interested in the past.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Erik: I have the Northolt Wg account of the Circus as well as 609's account of the day made at the time so do say if I can help.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

There are plenty of sources for 303 Sqn and I would say they are all complementing each other.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

These two losses were during convoy escort. As Franek mentioned there were six escorted Blenheim IVs - from the 107 Sqn on Circus No.20.

Michal

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Northolt War Diary says 12 ac of 303 sqn rendezvouzed with 6 bombers over Maidstone and 242 Sqn. Claims:

Sgt Wunche- seen to crash near Desvres
Sgt Wojciechowski-Ac exploded; "...black fusleage with witty yellow longitudenal stripes"
Sgt Adamek-In flames; 2nd ac probable
Plt Off Strzemborz-in flames on land
Sgt Szlyowski-engine stopped, went straight down but claimed probable
Plt Off Bondar-close to the ground with airscrew stopped; probable

Plt Off Gladych force landed near Manston and was badly not seriously injured. In a handwritten it it says "He destroyed one and collided with a second, destroyed that by cutting off its tail"

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Proper spelling Wunsche with umlaut. Me 109F, standard camouflage with yellow bottom of engine cowling.
Me 109F with light blue undersurfaces and black fuselage with mentioned yellow markings, lost both wings in the explosion.
Me 109E exploded and went down in a mass of flames, red nosed Me 109E in standard camouflage, completely covered in black smoke, went down, claimed as destroyed.
Proper spelling Strzembosz. Red nosed Me 109E in flames seen to crash on land in unspecified place.
Proper spelling Szlagowski. Me 109F not seen to crash but claimed as destroyed, emitting black smoke and having an airscrew stopped.
Me 109E last seen diving vertically, not seen to crash. Claimed as destroyed.
Initially credited with 3 destroyed due to misunderstanding. Claimed 2 destroyed, Me 109 in flames later downgraded to probable and Me 109 destroyed due to collision. His wounds were face wound, broken skull and broken collar bone.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi,

following German fighters were lost in this evening combat:
- 4/JG2 Fw.Georg Bock KIA Bf109F-2 6756 100% crashed by Condette
- 9/JG2 Olt.Carl-H.Roeders KIA Bf109F-2 6764 brown 1 crashed by Desvres
- 9/JG2 Uffz.Johann Straub DOW Bf109F-2 5763 crashed NW St.Omer
- II/JG2 NN Bf109F-2 6763 emergency-landed Abbeville-Drucat 60%
- II/JG2 NN Bf109F-2 12643 belly-landed Berck-sur-Mer 40%
Sources: J.Prien "JFV Part 5", P.Watteeuw "Les Pertes de la... Vol.2", D.Caldwell "The JG26 War Diary Vol.1".
Perhaps someone could write-down all allied claims?

Regards

Robert

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi Robert

In addition to the 303 Sqn claims, I can offer:

242 Sqn 2-1-2
Demozay 109, De la Bouchere 109, Grassick 109 probable, 109 damaged, Redfern 109 damaged

92 Sqn 3-2-2
Malan 2 109s, Dougall 109, Wade 109 probable, Le Cheminant 109 probable

Buys (611 Sqn) 109
U/k pilot (603 Sqn) 109

Hope this helps
Cheers
Brian

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Yes thanks Brian it seems to be nice overclaiming.

Regards

Robert

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hello Gentlemen,

a lot of thanks for these very useful answers.

Regarding the German assault, Gerhard Schöpfel had nice remembrances that he told me 15 years ago. It was his sole combat with Balthasar at his side.
It appears that the first unit to be in contact with this Circus was 4./JG 2 having started from Abbeville Drucat. They claimed a lot, but also suffered the loss of Bock and probably the 109 which was damaged at Drucat. The other damaged 109 certainly belonged to the 5th Staffel and was lost a bit later.
About 20 minutes after this first battle, Stab III./JG 26, Geschwaderstab JG 2, III./JG 26 and III./JG 2 also rejoined the RAF formation and started fighting Belnheims and Spitfires… which seems to counter-say a bit what our friend Don Caldwell wrote : "The two JG 2 Gruppen claimed five Blenheims before the German were set upon by the late-arriving escort."
Is there any report that states that the escort arrived a bit late?

Thanks, best regards and the very best for 2008!

Erik

PS : just found this excellent page : http://orb.polishaf.pl/unit/303sqn

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Eric, (and Brian)

603 Sqn's Sgt John Hurst claimed and was credited with a Me-109F damaged at 2035, 8 m S of Dunkirk, in Spitfire Va R7305. This is the only claim by 603 Sqn on this date.

Frank.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

303 Sqn state that they had to wait 15 mins for the bombers so perhaps it was the other way around

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Erik
303 and 242 Sqns were on rendesvous point at Manston and escorted Blenheims according to plan. 242 Sqn was Close Escort and 303 - Top Escort. I cannot say about other units but it looks they were all from Target Support, thus not directly involved in escort of Blenheims, although Northolt Combat Diary mentions one Spitfire Squadron joined the dog fight. This would need a drawing to explain how such an operation looked like.
The formation was first attacked over the coast (Desvres) and then over the target, but descriptions are conflicting, and reading reports the one has no impression of separate combats.
By the way, do you have any account of Schöpfel concerning his combat on 28 June 1941 - Circus 26?

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hi Franek and all the others,

Thank you very much for the help.
That is true, it is very difficult to reconstruct how the operation happened, and of course each operation would need one complete book. That is not our goal but your answers will help to avoid several mistakes.
Unfortunately, Gerhard Schöpfel did not tell me much on separate missions since he hadn't his Flugbücher, but a few were still clear in his mind. This was the case for this 23 June, but not for the 28th. Sorry.

Best regards

Erik

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Frank,

I think it is a mistake with the month. Hurst was credited with this claim in July not June.
I do not have 603 Squadron ORB for that period but a history of the unit by Ross & Blanche states only action on 23rd June at 12.55, so much earlier. Hornchurch Wing almost probably did not participated in the evening action.

Regards,
Michal

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Hello Erik
A book about a single operation seems exaggeration, but it would be enough for a good article. Well, the problem is in amount of documents from the Allied side and in lack of them from the German side.
I have seen a photo attributed to Schöpfel (Osprey Me 109F/G aces IIRC) and reputedly showing his victim from the combat. The problem is that it was clearly a Spitfire, and Schöpfel is usually credited with a 306 Sqn Hurricane. Friend's uncle had a lengthy low-level dog-fight that day and ended up in the drink due to lack of fuel, hence my particular interest.

Re: Circus N° 20 23 June 1941
 

Continuing the Circus 20 thread, 609 (9 ac plus the Station Commander) were Target Support Wg with 92 & 74 Sqn for 6 Blenheims attacking Mardyck aerodrome. Took off at 1948 hrs and 2 ac landed at Manston & West Malling. Nothing else was recorded.