As a new boy may I ask the Forum for advice on the shooting down of an aircraft in Mounts Bay off Penzance. A RN records cites the destruction as being on 28 May 1941 (but I suppose the Germans could have logged it as 29 May if the loss was not noticed the loss until the following day).
The following extract is taken from the website of The
Russian Convoy Club of New Zealand and was posted by Mr Bill Brokenshaw who was serving on the vessel in question, HMS Chiltern (or HMT Chiltern).
The link to the website is:
http://www.russianconvoyclub.org.nz/MyStory.htm
For the next 18 months we swept the Cornish and Devonshire coasts “collecting 47 mines in 20 weeks. Up to one third of our trawlers were lost to mines and enemy aircraft. On 28 May 1941 at approximately 2200 hrs while we were approaching our anchorage in Mounts Bay, Penzance, during an air raid a German bomber came within our range. With just one shell we were able to bring it down. Although the crew of the aircraft were able to release their life raft they were not able to save themselves. We picked up their life raft and a new type of radio was found which was capable of sending the position of a disabled aircraft which could be rescued. HMS Chiltern made headlines in the local papers and we were visited by the Air Marshall of the Royal Air Force. Skipper Jimmy Drake was now Lieutenant James Drake, RNR but to us he was always “Jimmy”.
My questions are:
is it possible to identify this aircraft;
if so are the details of its mission known?
are the details of the crew known?
or, even, is anything known?
Thank you