[liberator]

The bomber that carried out the raid was a Dornier 217-E4 from the German Fifth Kampfgeschwader40 (Battle Wing No.40) (5./KG40) a Luftwaffe bomber unit based at the Soesterberg Air Base, 14 kilometres North east of Utrecht in Holland.
The Do 217-E4 was a light bomber with a crew of four. Its armaments comprised a dorsal turret with a 13 mm machine-gun and a similar gun mounted ventrally. It had three 7.92 mm machine-guns in the forward fuselage, and a 15 mm MG 151 cannon in the nose. Its bomb load consisted of 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb) of bombs which could be loaded into the bomb bay in varying configurations.
Following Bomber Command’s raid against Lübeck on 28 March 1942, which destroyed 1,425 buildings, Hitler ordered a series of retaliation raids. These became known as the ‘Baedeker’ raids after a speech in which Hitler promised to destroy every city mentioned as of historical or artistic interest in a Baedeker guide book. These raids hit Bath, Exeter, Norwich, York, Cowes and Canterbury.

On February 10th 1943 29 aircraft from KG2 and II/KG40 squadrons set out on nuisance raids against the UK. These included one or two Dornier 217s making low level attacks, thus avoiding British radar. Sixteen places were attacked including Reading, Midhurst and Horsham. One Do217 of 5/KG40 was shot down by Anti Aircraft fire at Saltdean, Brighton.
The plane thought responsible for bombing Chichester was hit by light anti aircraft fire near Tangmere and crashed in fields near to The Royal Oak at Lagness, south of Chichester.
All four of the crew died in the crash, one Obergefreiter [Leading Aircraftsman] Josef Eitenauer age 25 is buried in Chichester Cemetery. The others, Oberfeldwebel [Flt Sgt] Erich Dohring, Oberleutnant [Flying Officer] Hans Kleeman and Unteroffizier [Corporal] Gunther Ladwig are interred in St Andrew’s Churchyard at Tangmere.