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Re: Looking for Photos & Eye-Witness accounts of wipe out of Fairey Battle Recon Formation over Western Front on 30.09.39
Hello,
Although it took almost a year, I've now got an excellent account of this action, including the detailed experiences of almost all the British survivors, and a solid account of events from the German side from the Heinrich Weiss manuscript and Jochen Prien's JG53 history. I've also got good photography from the German side, and an excellent 5-view color profile of Oblt. Rolf Pingel's a/c. He led the German formation.
What I still need to round out the EoE research on this one is:
1) Any account from the only British PoW from the action, Sgt. G.J. Springett, the observer aboard Battle K9484. Perhaps his story has been published somewhere or it is in his returning PoW info sheet?
2) Specific crash locations of these a/c:
Battle N2093 (abandoned over Merzig, Germany)
Battle K9387 (abandoned over Morhange, France)
Battle N2028 (abandoned over Morhange, France)
Battle K9484 (crashed SW of Saarbrucken, Germany)
3) Photos of any of the five Fairey Battles that crashed during this action, taken either of the wreckage at the crash site or while with 150 SQ in France, prior to being shot down. Any other general views of 150 SQ a/c or activities during Sept., 1939 would also be most welcome. I want to do a color profile of at least one of these a/c, preferably the Battle of Sq Ldr MacDonald, but any other would also be okay if photos of that one can't be located.
In addition, I need a photo of the Battle (K9283) that SqLdr MacDonald crashed back of Ecury-sur-Coole at the end of this mission, which was burned out after it crash-landed back at its base.
4) Photos of any of the crews, or even individual crewmen that participated in this mission on the British side. We have good photos of all pilots on the German side who claimed victories that day (five).
This material would enable the EoE Team to absolutely nail this important early-war story.
My thanx to Martin Gleeson and Paul McMillan for providing key reports and accounts of the British survivors, and Dr. Jochen Prien, and the ECPA for photos relating to the German side of this story.
Who can now help fill in the missing info?
Regards,
Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator
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