He111 "6N+DL" crashed near Sables d'Olonne in July 1940

[gilles collaveri]

Good evening all,

I am looking for information concerning the crash of a He111 in 1940 (likely July) , most probably registered 6N+DL, at Saint Hilaire de Talmont, 6 km south east of les Sables d'Olonne:

reason of the crash, name and fate of the crew?

Thanks as usual, and enjoy the end of 2013.

GC

[Larry Hickey]

Gilles,

Peter Cornwell has been looking into the ID of this crash, and has found no match so far for the photo which prompted this crash information.

His comment: "No such incident reported throughout July 1940 & the closest loss by KGr100 to the location given was on 19 August 1940 when damage was assessed at 60%. As the photo indicates a 100% loss this is an unlikely match. Dubious information somewhere along the line ?"

Any help in properly identifying the photo with this reported information would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator

[Nick Beale]

I don't know about the photo but on my website article about KGr. 100 there is this report from 19 August 1940 of an He 111 "yellow D" burned out at Les Sables d'Olonne.

[Rémi Baudru]

Attachment 9592



Here is the photo. To my mind, the fuselage has been properly cut with an axe.

Rémi

[gilles collaveri]

Hi Nick and Larry,

Nick: my thread was triggered by a question on a French forum where you can see a picture of that machine, see:

http://www.aerostories.org/~aeroforu...p?nummsg=56083

so, the mystery remains...


GC

[Nick Beale]

The relevant text of the deciphered signals is:

CX/JQ/239
2. Late on 19/8 (H)41 sent out its usual report on reconnaissance …

A He 111 crashed 6 km. SE of Les Sables d’Olonne, 200 metres from the beach, and was burnt out. Its markings were 6 + ND [sic], the “D” being painted yellow ...

15. Flieger Korps 5 warned all fighter and heavy-fighter formations as well as OC Flak that He 111 camouflaged for night operations also operate by day. The recognition-markings on sides of the a/c and on under side of wings are painted over in black; but on the upper side they are still clearly distinguishable.

CX/JQ/241
Corrections
Reference CX/JQ/239, paragraph 2, sub-section 3: Source believes that the markings of the He 111 were wrongly quoted in the original document and should be 6N+ND.

In Ken Wakefield's book »Pfadfinder« he says that the aircraft at Les Sables was 60% damaged on 19 August after running out of fuel. He lists it as an H-2 but there are no further details. It was returning from England, so I guess it came down in the early hours of the 19th.

[gilles collaveri]

Thanks Nick, appreciated.

Gilles