|
Re: Seeking photos of 8./KG54 He111P that crashed near Morkhoven Belgium on May 10, 1940
Stig,
As Peter T says. the photo on the bottom of P. 66 (which Gillet correctly identifies as Stadelmayer's aircraft, but for which he doesn't provide a code) is B3+AS. The photo on the bottom of P. 67, which Gillet correctly identifies as B3+AS (after the French troops turned over the rear fuselage) is incorrectly attributed as being the Jansen aircraft at Morkhoven. It is not. It is another photo of Stadelmayer's aircraft. This is an easy mistake to make as the photos superficially don't look similar, but note that top of the fin on the second photo is bent where it was against the ground, and the starboard horizontal stabilizer is partially crushed, just like it is in the photo on P.66.
As a further note on the Jansen crash at Morekhoven, I suspect that this aircraft is B3+GS, but I need further evidence to prove this (I have one photo of this aircraft). If anyone has seen photos of a KG54 aircraft (death's head emblem on the upper forward fuselage) with the tail sheered off, and some distance behind the main part of the plane, please notify me. The Morkhoven aircraft apparently landed intact, but Belgian troops may have seriously damaged it with demolition charges before they retreated from the area (they were ordered to do so). This could account for the tail being detached. However there was one other 8 Staffel loss later during the WC that could account for the photos of B3+GS, shot up and FL after being attacked by fighters. I have no known photos of that aircraft either, so I can't eliminate it as a possibility. We pretty well have eliminated the 8 Staffel crashes on that day at Sluis, just across the border in Zeeland, the Netherlands, and the burned out He111 along the Groene Sprietstraat at Ruiselede, Belgium, as candidates for B3+GS. I would certainly appreciate any photos of those wrecks, as well, if anybody has them or knows about them.
As a further note, we have recently confirmed with photos that the code on Zenner's crashed He111P at Hulste, Belgium, was B3+DS, W.Nr. 2458.
Regards,
|