Victory claims above Rouen may 1940

[jan_ti_sphinx]

Hi,

I found two victory claims from RAF pilots around Rouen in may 1940 :
_ 3 pilots of No. 1 Sqn claim a He 111 on 21st may ;
_ 1 pilot of No. 73 Sqn claims a Do 17 north of Rouen on 25th may.
The second claim could be an "intruder" that a make French patrol scramble (I'm not sure) but the first is more myterious for me.

Does anybody have informations about this fight or losses of Luftwaffe for this days ?

Cheers

[John Beaman]

Have you checked After The Battle's publication, The Battle Of France Now and Then by Peter Cornwell? It is very comprehensive.

[Bruce Lander]

Hi,

The He.111 attacked by F/Lt.P.E.Warcup, F/O. D.S.Thom and Sgt.A.V.Clowes on 21st May is noted as belonging to 5/KG55 by Peter Caygill in "In All Things First" his no 1 Squadron History, he also notes that it had previously been attacked by French fighters and that it crash landed near Trier with 1-Killed, 2-wounded and pilot OK although he dates it as on the 23rd May not the 21st! as does Peter Cornwell in his superb BoF-T&N.
The Do.17 on 25th May was attacked by F/O E.J."Cobber" Kain and could have been one of several noted as damaged in combat in Peter Cornwell's book, however in Don Minterne's excellent 73 Squadron history he notes that Kain crashed in Hurricane "C" on landing back at Boos due to his undercarriage being damaged by return fire from the Dornier - Peter Cornwell does not mention this.

Cheers

Bruce Lander

[jan_ti_sphinx]

Hi,

Thank you two for this interresting replies. I got BoF - T&N, what a marvellous book it is !
I've looked more carefully the book were I found the claims : there are two claims for a He 111 by the trio F/L Warcup - F/O Thom - Sgt Clowes : the 1st on 21st may above Rouen, the 2nd on 23rd in a unknonw place ; could it be a duplicate due to the event in France at this time...

Cheers

[Peter Cornwell]

According to the No.1 Squadron ORB (AIR27/1) the action involving CLOWES, WARCUP, & THOM and the He111 took place on 23 May 1940. I found no evidence for any such engagement on 21 May 1940 as recorded in Foreman's RAF Fighter Command Victory Claims (2003)

[jan_ti_sphinx]

Hi

So I hold this date instead of the 21st ; thank you for that information :-).