[Oxby R]

Although the book on LG 1 certainly labels it as L1+RK, looking closely at the letters to the right of the Balken Cross, I am inclined to see that 4th letter as an ‘H' rather than a ‘K.'

I agree with you on this.

The narrative in Taghon, Vol. 2, p. 166, notes that the a/c of Ofw. Isachsen was shot down by your dad and F/O Shipard, but, the date is shown as 08.01.1943, not 16/17.01.43. And, as I noted in my 1st reply, the He 111 you inquired about was also shot down on 9.1.43.

Why the date is shown in your source as the 8th Jan is a mystery. I've got the 16th in both Oxby snrs logbook, and Sqdn history. Puzzled by that one. I thought the He111 was the e/a involved in the collision with Peters/Halliday's Beau - both a/c ultimately crashing into the sea. But that can't be correct. The collision was apparently the same night, the 16th Jan, and the He111 was shot down on the 9th. Also, Warne says the e/a was a Ju 88, not a Heinkel. Hmmm.

"Eventually came in from dead astern and open fire at range of 100 yards with a 4 sec burst. E/A immediately caught fire in both engines and fuselage and went down vertically. No return fire experienced – own aircraft struck by pieces from E/A but no damage done. E/A identified as Ju88. Claim one Ju88 destroyed." (From your Dad's narrative)

But, Ofw. Isachsen says he was hit only in the left engine, and was able to maintain control over the a/c on single engine power. Being over the water, the crew had to decide whether to fly north or south. They decided to fly south to Africa, and after passing the coast began looking for somewhere to land. As it turned out they landed in a mine-field, but all survived. And, a short time later became PoWs.

Judging from the photo, I'd say the damage to Ofw. Isachsen's a/c looks pretty superficial. I'm inclined to think his account is probably more reliable than the combat report - he was flying the a/c after all - and he would have had nothing to prove. It could well be Oxby snr/Shipard were mistaken, having seen the a/c perhaps only briefly going down, and at night. Who knows, it must have been diffiuclt not to imagine that you saw both engines smoking, and with the thing losing altitude so rapidly - when in reality, the e/a is simply trying to avoid further punishment ?

I think that, indeed, your father's crew did score its victory on the 16/17th and shot down either the Ju 88 of Lt. Werner Schmitz, L1+FN, #142 319, which crashed into the sea, with no survivors (which would seem to agree with your father's narrative of the a/c diving vertically); or the Ju 88 of Ogefr. Scheda, L1+EN, #142 305, from which the crew was able to parachute and be taken prisoner.

Hmmm. Neither of these options seem right to me. The logbook mentions 3 POWs, (which ok, could have come from L1+EN I guess) but how do we explain the Ju 88 photo in the desert ? It don't look a whole lot like L1+EN to me.. and remember Isachen's machine had cable cutting gear, and heavy cannon for shipping strikes. And finally, those photo(s) were taken by Shipard - and they do look more like L1+RH to me.