[Pieter H]

Hi guys,

like I said, my story was the - in my eyes - best possible interpretation based on the scarce facts I had.
So I maintain that the loss of the Ju52 remains as it has been described with the exception of the cause of this loss.
I tend to agtree with Jaap that the description of "an Arado-type" does not fit nicely to a Ju52. So let's accept it was not a Ju52 (and the 2./KGrzbV.9 Ju52 at Loosduinen was simply hit by ground fire when taking off from the beach).

But I diasgree with Jaap's interpretation of this being a He115. These aircraft only flew at night and before dawn (at least over the target area) and there are no reports of He115 flights during the day along the Dutch coast. The mentioned crew of Dirking was also lost during darkness, early May 11.

However, there were other float planes flying over the Dutch coast, exactly at 09.20 Dutch time, which is 10.00 French time! These were two Fokker T8W's (the R2 and R4) and a Fokker C8W (the G8). The R2 came from the Braasemermeer float plane base north of Amsterdam, and flew along the coast from IJmuiden to Scheveningen, where it landed to pick up members of the Dutch government for transfer to the UK. (Two other Fokker T8W's had already landed at 8.30 Dutch time). The R4 and G8 came from De Mok float plane base on Texel island and also flew along the coast. The landing time of these three is said to be 9.20-9.30 Dutch time. During the landing the R4 and G8 were both attacked and sunk. These attacks were always reported as being from Bf109's, but there are no German claims at 11.00 German time in this area. My suspiscion is that this belongs to the standard reporting of the time, where any fighter was default a Bf109.

In TBoFTaN these two losses are listed as:
MLD Fokker C VIIIw (G8). Sent from De Mok in readiness to evacuate members of the Dutch government to England. Strafed by enemy aircraft and burned out on the beach at Scheveningen 9.55 a.m. No crew casualties. Aircraft a write-off.

GVT 2 Fokker T VIIIw (R4). Sent from De Mok in readiness to evacuate members of the Dutch government to England. Strafed by enemy aircraft and burned out on the beach at Scheveningen 9.55 a.m. Pilot Off-Vl J. M. Uijtenhoudt killed, Mechanic Vliegtuigmaker N.R.L. Kooiman seriously wounded, died of wounds May 12.Aircraft a write-off.


So my new hypothesis is that one of these two was attacked by LV de Scitiveau. His description of a "tri-moteur" fits better to a T8W than a C8W, and also the T8W had better air defence than a C8W. Also the C8W effectively landed on the beach, where it was burned and the wreck pictured, whereas there are no pictures of a T8W wreck near Scheveningen, so this a/c might have come down more out into the see. I need more detailed reports to verify those assumptions. But a lot of circumstantial evidence for a good level of confidence to start with.

Probably still not the definitive story, but hopefully one little step closer to the truth.


Cheers, Pieter