Hello,
The German and British sides of this story are very different. Based upon German sources it would appear that there were a lot more a/c in the sky over Germany that night. However, ample British records have survived and there is apparently no evidence of more a/c being dispatched on this or a similar mission over German that night, nor a/c losses reported, nor crew casualties identified. By now all the war casualties and a/c losses during this part of the war have long been identified, and it just defies all logic that a number of other British losses could have happened that night. Where is the evidence of the British side? Where are the wreckage photos on the German side?
I have to agree that barring further evidence there is no reason to alter the established British account of what happened on their side. The "ghost mission" was just confusion on the German side--part of the fog of war.
Regarding my earlier questions, I've now studied Peter Cornwell's revised British loss records for this mission in detail. We still haven't identified some of the full crew names and crew positions, but I do have all of the a/c codes for the 37 SQ losses, and only one for the 9 SQ: N2939 was apparently WSoH. I would appreciate an email from Chris Goss for any additional codes that he has, or from anyone else for that matter.
Regarding crashes, only one aircraft crashed on land--sort of. The Wellington of Sgt Herbert Ruse apparently ditched in shallow water alongside a beach at high tide, and later at low tide was full stranded on the beach. Several of the crew were captured and the a/c subsequently burned out:
According to the revised EoE British Loss DB:
18 December 1940:
Wellington IA N2936. Shot down by Oberstlt Carl Schumacher (Geschwaderkommodore) of Stab JG1 and ditched and burned out just offshore Borkum (Spiekeroog) Island ca 1.45 p.m. Sergeant T. W. Holley and Corporal F. J. Taylor both killed in fighter attacks, (Pilot) Sergeant H. Ruse, Sergeant T. May, and Leading Aircraftsman H. A. Jones all captured. Aircraft LF*J a write-off. (Weiss)"
Here is one of the three photos I have in the EoE Photo DB for what must be that a/c.
http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-m7n...-m7ncfwt-L.jpg
Another can be found in "The Battle of Heligoland Bight 1939" by Robin Holmes P.8 of the photo section. He identifies it as N2936. Neither Peter Cornwell nor I have found any photo evidence of other crashes on German territory that night.
Does anyone know of any photos of other a/c taken either before being lost or of survivors after the mission that would help in creating color profiles for this mission?
Regards,
Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator