Looking for Photos & Eye-Witness accounts of wipe out of Fairey Battle Recon Formation over Western Front on 30.09.39

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

In the late afternoon of 30 Sept. 1939, six Battle bombers from no.150 Sqn/AASF had taken off from Ecury sur Coole under lead of S/L MacDonald to fly high-altitude photo reconnaissance mission over the area of Saarbrücken-Merzig. During the approach flight one crew experienced engine failure and turned back to base. Five remaining crews continued the mission and they were picked up by 7./Lg.Nachr.Rgt.12. The raid was reported to I./JG53. Two four-element sections from 2./JG53 were scrambled and about 12.00 hrs the English formation was sighted on an altitude of 7000 m W of Saarbrücken. Of the five remaining Battles four were shot down and one crash-landed back at base and burned out. S/L Macdonald nursed back his crippled Battle K9283 to the own territory and then he crash-landed. The aircraft caught fire and was burned out.The crew was wounded. The other Battles were: K9387 with crew of F/O Corelli, N2028 with crew of P/O Poulton, N2093 with crew of F/L Hyde-Parker and K9484 with crew of P/O Saunders.

I am not aware of any photos of these Batttle crashes, and am seeking same. I suspect some of these may have been documented by offerings on eBay over the years, but I'm not coded anything from that source that would allow me to hook them to these losses. I'm also seeking any published accounts from any British survivors from these a/c.

Who can help?

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator