[Peter Cornwell]

Hello Dean,

I regret that I know of no official damage report for FALCK’s aircraft on May 26, 1940, the Lw General Quartermaster Returns seem to make no mention of it. But I can confirm that when John Vasco and I interviewed him during preparation of Zerstorer (1995) his recollection was that ‘three out of four of his Stabsschwarm were shot down on their first sortie over Dunkirk & he only just managed to escape at low level’. Unfortunately, he had no documents for the period so further details were lacking, (we were also mainly concerned with his subsequent role in founding the German night-fighter arm), but this was clearly a reference to operations on that date.

Don’t be too hasty in thinking that you are wrong simply because I’ve arrived at a different conclusion. The evidence for doing so, though it exists, is not overwhelming by any means. Like you, I long suspected that his opponents that day may have been No.54 Squadron, simply by virtue of the fact that the number & location of their claims compared to known Bf110 losses suggests so. The long-distance pursuit of one Bf110 ‘to Lille’ & claimed as ‘damaged’ by F/Lt M. C. Pearson’s section also offered a compelling match for the circumstances described by FALCK. However, I was eventually dissuaded from this by the number of No.54 Squadron claims reporting enemy aircraft going into the sea suggesting to me that the action took place over the Channel off Dunkirk. There were also other factors that I took into consideration.

Unfortunately, information is scarce on Bf110 operations for this period though great strides in addressing this are now being made by Larry Hickey & his team. However, I am not aware of any claims filed by I./ZG1 which would give us the exact time of their sortie(s) on this date, & the only Flugbuch evidence is that of Uffz Willi DIETRICH of 1./ZG1 who was not involved in any combat. However, German War Graves records confirm that both casualties suffered by I./ZG1 that day, Oberlt Konrad MARTIN & Lt Georg WŐLFLE, were killed at or near Bourbourg which is 6 miles inland. At least that much is evident. I also had a note that I./ZG1 had been escorting Ju88s of III./KG4 on the sortie in question & the Namentliche Verlustmeldung for III./KG4 reveals that their sortie over Dunkirk was timed between 14.35 – 15.00 hours (GST). So as Nos.32 & 605 Squadrons are the only RAF fighter units to have reported any engagements over Dunkirk at this time 13.15 – 14.25 hours (BST) you may understand why, on the balance of the only real evidence available, I concluded that they were involved. However, this conclusion can easily be overturned if someone has more reliable information on the precise times of I./ZG1 sortie(s) on that date. Anyone ?

Thanks for your question & your comments on the book, Dean.