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Old 15th May 2013, 04:18
Flyinmick Flyinmick is offline
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Ju87 loss over Biggin Hill on February 5th, 1941

Hi,
On February 5th, 1941, a Ju87, which was engaged in an apparently solo attack on shipping, was chased inland by members of 92 Sqn. This aircraft was shot down directly over RAF Biggin Hill. It crashed just outside the airfield boundary and both crew members were killed. This event is described as follows:

On another convoy patrol on the 5th, Pilot Officer Sam Saunders, the formation leader was startled to see one of the ships explode; his first thought was that it must have struck a mine but then, to his amazement, he saw one lone Stuka low on the water heading for France. He and the other three dived to the attack and the German pilot, seeing the Spitfires after him, turned and made for Manston presumably to give himself up, as he had no hope of survival in a fight.
The night before this episode some of the officers had been saying that if they brought down a German in one piece the thing to do would be to take him to the Mess and entertain him before bundling him off to a POW camp. The CO overheard this and he didn’t feel that there was any place for the chivalry displayed in the First World War and he gave the boys a little lecture on the reasons they were there, these being firstly to defend the country and secondly to kill as many of the enemy as possible. They learned their lesson very well as the CO later recalled.
“Having been on the first patrol of the morning, I had been back to the Mess for breakfast and was just returning to Dispersal when I heard gunfire. I stopped the car and got out to stare in amazement at the sight of one lone Stuka weaving madly in an attempt to avoid the attentions of four Spitfires. All five were coming towards me and it occurred to me that I was in the line of fire so I hid behind a vehicle that was handy. Then I saw a notice on it reading: 100 Octane – it was one of the refuelling bowsers. So I darted back to my car! Just as I reached it the Stuka reached the edge of the airfield almost directly above me at about a hundred feet. Here he was headed off by one of the Spitfires and I could clearly see both gunner and pilot in their cockpits with the De Wilde ammunition bursting around them. The Spitfire overshot and pulled away and the German made another desperate attempt to land and turned violently to port but at this instant Pilot Officer Fokes, in my aeroplane, flashed past me and gave a short burst with the cannons. I can still hear the thump-thump-thump of them followed by the terrific whoosh as the Stuka blew up and crashed just outside the boundary of the airfield

Does anyone know who the crew members were and the location of the crash site?
Thanks!
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