[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Peter Cornwell, with assistance from Vince and others, has now revised our EoE Luft Loss listing on these three crashes in France on 23 November 1939 as follows.

1) 23 November 1939: Stabsstaffel KG2 Dornier Do17Z-2. Shot down by F/O J.E. Scoular and Sgt J. Winn of No.73 Squadron and crashed and burned out at Hagéville, north-east of Haumont-lès-Lachaussée, 2.00 p.m. (BO) Oberlt Alfred Winter, Uffz Edmund Puhl, Uffz Paul Meyer, and Uffz Hans Czekay all killed. Aircraft 100% write-off.

Note: we still lack crew positions on the last three members of this crew. Can anybody help?

2) 23 November 1939 Western Front Amend: 3.(F)/22 Dornier Do17P-1 (3521). Believed that damaged in attack by Capt J-M. Accart of GC I/5 during high-level photo-reconnaissance mission between Verdun and Metz but managed to disengage. Then came under further attack from S/L P.J.H. Halahan and F/O M.H. Brown of No.1 Squadron and finally crashed and burned out on the railway line between Audun-le-Roman and Trieux at Sancy-le-Haut 1.10 p.m. Also attacked by Sergeant C.N.S. Campbell of No.73 Squadron. FF Fw Franz Hallauer, BO Fw Siegfried Dreßler, and BF Gefr Wolfgang Schulz all killed. Aircraft 4N+HL 100% write-off.

3) 23 November 1939 Western Front Amend: 2.(F)/122 Heinkel He111H-2. Attacked near Saarbrücken by Hurricanes of No.1 Squadron (F/Lt G.H.F. Plinston and Sgt A.V. Clowes), together with Curtiss H-75s of GC II/5 (Adjt P. de Montgolfier, Adjt P. Audrain, and Sgt A. Bouhy). Crashed at Koenigsmacker, north-east of Thionville, 12.00 p.m. (FF) Uffz Theodor Blattmann , (BO) Lt Robert Aeckerle (of E-Stelle Rechlin), (BM) Uffz Anton Gumpp, and (BF) Obergefr Alfred Schidlitzki all killed. Aircraft F6+FK or F6+CK a write-off.

This has taken a lot of effort, but we now think that we have this correct. We still have no photos of any of these three wrecked aircraft although we're virtually certain that they exist. Who can help with photos?

For those with that volume, there are two photos published in Peter's "The Battle of France: Then and Now" which could relate to these three crashes. One, on P. 116, is captioned as one of the Do17 losses on 21 November. However, confirmed photos of that crash show that it was in the woods, and this isn't, so this cannot be correct. This could show one of the two 23 November Do17P crashes with no correlated photos instead. The other is on P.134, which I'm not even sure it is a Do17. The original source purports this to be a recon a/c loss on 11 Jan 1940, but it doesn't fit other photos that are believed to show that aircraft. That one is at present a complete mystery to me.

Who can help resolve these questions?

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator