Fist NJG claim?

[Frasera]

Hi, I am looking for information on the loss of 149 Sqn Wellington R3175 coded OJ-V on the night of 8/9th Sept '40. Shot down over the sea with loss of all personnel. I have all the BCL/ORB/149Sqn stuff but found a claim that the aircraft was shot down and claimed as the "first NJG bomber claim" by 1/NJG1. Any confirmation/denial or identity of crew claiming the aircraft would be much appreciated.
TIA

Alan F
149 Sqn Historian

[Leo Etgen]

Hello Alan

The first claim included in The Nachtjagd War Diaries by Boiten and Mackenzie is that of a Whitley claimed by Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster of 5./NJG 1 or Stab III./NJG 1 on 8/9 July 1940 at 2:50 over the sea, northwest of Helgoland and identified by the authors as being Whitley V (N1496) flown by F/Lt DA Ffrench-Mullen of 10 Sqn, RAF, all POW. The only claim included on 8/9 September 1940 is that of Leutnant Kurt Herrmann of 4./NJG 1 who claimed a Blenheim at 23:00 over Waddington airfield and which is unidentified by the authors. I hope this helps.

Horrido!

Leo

[Larry Hickey]

Alan F,

Our EoE British Loss DB entry doesn't shed any light upon this one. If more information can be discovered, we'd sure like to know about it:

"September 9, 1940: Wellington IC R3175. Failed to return from night attack on barge concentrations at Boulogne and believed crashed in the North Sea a.m. Pilot Officer J. L. Leeds, Sergeant R. A. Jerritt, Sergeant S. C. Grant, Sergeant H. G. Gledhill, Sergeant W. W. Crooks, and Sergeant A. C. Martin all missing. Aircraft OJ*V a write-off."

This doesn't probably add anything new for you and certainly doesn't shed any light on who might have shot them down.

Regards,

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Alan,

I am afraid that the loss of Wellington R3175 cannot be linked to any nightfighter claim for several reasons:
- the Í./NJG 1 was not operating near the SW coast of the Netherlands to be near the location where this tragical loss occured. Their first nocturnal victory was the widely published victory of Oblt. Werner Streib (2./NJG 1) in the night of 19/20 July 1940. Their 8th nocturnal victory was in the night of 2/3 September 1940, the next in the night of 18/19 September 1940

- by that time at Deelen the II./NJG 1 was new established because the 'old' II./NJG 1 was renamed into I./NJG 2 and transferred to Gilze-Rijen. They claimed 2 Blenheims around the date of the loss of R3175, one in the night of 6/7 September 1940, the next in the night of 9/10 September.

I also checked the otther nightfighter units but can't find any other claim.

Now that we are in touch, I am still looking for an 149 Sqdn RAF ORB copy of the page(s) about the Duisburg raid 20 December 1942 in which 5 Stirlings started. There was one early return, 4 were over Duisburg. Most grateful if you could help me with this.

All the best, Marcel Hogenhuis [ marcelhogenhuis(at)gmail.com ]

(airfield Venlo in WW-2, I./NJG 1, He219 project)

[Frasera]

Thanx to Leo and Larry, appreciated guys. As you know, finding out what didn't happen is as important as finding out what did!

Marcel, thanx for the input and I will add it to the file. As regards the 149 Sqn info I have contacted you off board and will pass all I can, with pleasure.

Alan