Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

Hi guys

The following appeared in FLIGHT 27 June 1940

THE arming of merchant ships has proved a considerable success, and their gunners have brought down not a few German aircraft which attacked them. One British merchant ship, attacked by German aircraft, performed the astonishing feat of shooting down two German aircraft with a single shot from its defensive gun. The chief officer of the ship, who was one of those who saw it happen, gave the following account:

I saw three 'planes attacking the ship. As they passed over to our port side, at a height of about 2,000 feet, our gunner fired his first shot. I saw the left-hand side 'plane split in a fore and aft line just abaft the port wing. She opened right out. The starboard wing fell into small fragments, and then it crashed to the ground. The shell seemed to pass through this plane and explode just ahead of the first of the two remaining ‘planes. The nose of that second 'plane was lifted and I saw a piece of the fuselage fall off. Then the pilot baled out with his parachute, and as the plane glided down pieces of it were flying in all directions.

Does this refer to the Dunkirk evacuation period, or after? Date? Ship? Aircraft involved?
Cheers
Brian