He115 claimed by Blenheims 3 August 1940

[Brian]

Hi guys

A further query regarding 3./506's He115s during the Battle of Britain.

I have a note that three Blenheim fighters of 235 Squadron forced a He115 to alight on the sea on 3 August. Was this the aircraft in which Ltn Ducoffre and Oblt z.S Ballier were lost?

Cheers
Brian

[Matti Salonen]

I have no He 115 lost on 3 August. Ballier, Ducoffre and Fischer were lost on 28 July.

Matti

[Brian Bines]

Matti, GQM loss report dated 5-8-1940 shows loss of He 115 of 3/506 on 2-8-1940 with B Oblt.zur See Ballier, Ff Lt. Ducoffre plus one missing. From other reports I have two more 3/506 losses on 1/2-8-40 He115C DC+GR 2767 B Lt zur See Hans Joachim Richter +, Ff Uffz Heinz Heinz Loffler +, Bf Fw Hermann Hansen m, and He115C DC+GI 2758 B Lt zur See Starke, Ff Fw Siegfried Gast and Bf Fw Alexander Waldmann all missing. These last two appear to tie up to the claim by the crew of the SS Highlander for a He115 shot down by Lewis gun fire and a second to a compressed air bomb launcher on the ship at around 2345hrs on the 1st. The Highlander reached port with parts of one He115 on its deck. I had thought the Ballier crew fell to 235 Sqd. on the 2nd till I saw your post,

Regards
Brian Bines

[Peter Cornwell]

Brian,

There are no Lw losses that correspond to the ‘probable He115’ claimed by three Blenheims of No.235 Squadron on the afternoon of 3 August 1940. And as Matti says, the airmen you name were lost on the night of 28/29 July 1940 as follows:

3./KüFlGr. 506 Heinkel He115C-1 (2776). Badly damaged by naval AA fire during early morning torpedo attack on convoy between Hartlepool and the Tyne and believed crashed in the Kattegat during return flight. BO Oberlt zur See Gerhard Ballier and FF Lt Leo Ducoffre both missing, BF Obergefr Fritz Fischer killed. Aircraft 100% lost.
The body of Fritz Fischer later came ashore in Sweden.

There were errors in the reporting of this loss at unit level - possibly occasioned by the further losses on 2 August 1940 as detailed by Brian BINES. As he says, the GQM Returns record the loss on 2 August 1940 in a document issued the following day. However, the original NVM of 3./KüFlGr506 gives the date of loss as 28 July 1940 (later manually amended to 2 August 1940) but the July date is confirmed by the KTB of the QM ObdM. The VDK database also confirms the date of death of Obergefr FISCHER as 28 July 1940.

[Matti Salonen]

GQM really gives 2 Aug for Ballier etc, but from WASt documents I have got 28 July. Cannot say, which one is correct.

Matti

[Chris Goss]

Blenheims W, T & S of 235 Sqn did have a running battle with a He 115 1620-1635 hrs in NLMF 3305 but never claimed it as destroyed, just (an optimistic?) damaged

[robert]

Hi Brian,

in the afternoon three inconclusive combats with Blenheim`s and Hudson a/c were recorded by seaplanes of 1./106.

Regards

Robert

[Chris Goss]

Hudson was T/220 Sqn which met a He 115 at 1720 hrs in NLTA 5520

[Tim O.]

I have an article amongst the papers of Hauptmann Willi Gaul that I have translated roughly below. It is sadly undated but I would love to know if it fits somewhere into this thread! Gaul was with 1./106 from the start of the war until October 1941, when he transferred to 2./906 where he remained until transferring to III./KG40 in June 1942.

From Unteroffizier K. to Tommy with Love

"Nice weather today - tsch - but a damned tired mill, this ‘Fritz-Heinrich’," grumbles our Pilot, Oberleutnant Gaul, through the intercom. He is right on both counts. Today is a textbook day. Even far out here in the North Sea, the wind just ripples the surface of the water, the sun shines into the cockpit of our aircraft, and visibility is excellent. And it is also probably what makes us feel our brave ‘Fritz-Heinrich’ is particularly slow today. It seems to us that we have been flying a course towards England for an eternity. We have been able to spot nothing; absolutely nothing. It has become lonely on the sea routes around England. Now we change course and ‘creep’ slowly northward. Monotonous left, right and down the quiet North Sea; above us the tiring blue sky and from starboard the sleep-inducing warmth of the radiant sun.

Our Captain sings - he sings beautifully but through the throat microphone his voice echoes as if from an old horn gramophone. Something keeps them going. With his reconnaissance in a sea area where very little is going on, the Observer comments "Well, I thank you but others can get grey hair." Hours pass in the same fashion - continually criss-crossing the western North Sea not far from the English coast.

But suddenly the melodic singing of our Captain is interrupted. An emergency message suddenly comes through. "Machine astern – two thousand meters away!" roars through the intercom. The warning cry comes from the Radio Operator, Obergefreiter K., who despite the monotony, is alert at his post. Quick as a flash positions are taken. The Observer leaves his compass, map and navigation calculator and is ready for defence at the bow machinegun.

"Let him get close, let him get close - steady!" warns Oberleutnant Gaul to the Radio Operator, who is aiming through the windows of the cockpit to the rear. "Blenhein," he notes in a matter of fact way. Fast, too fast for us, he closes on our tail. Now he fires - close to and behind us streams of tracer disappear into nowhere on the starboard side because Oberleutnant Gaul has put our Heinkel 115 into a steep curve to port. That is enough to bring us out of his gun sights and give the Radio Operator a field of fire.

"Now, open fire!" orders Oberleutnant Gaul and our rear machinegun opens up. "Good! Bravo! Keep shooting!" The Blenheim is tough, she dives and goes in an elegant curve away beneath us. It is faster than we are. Far ahead they curve around and line up for the second approach. There are only a few seconds of silence but the Obergefreiter, our Radio Operator, uses them to send his radio message. Then he lets the key go and grabs his machinegun because the Blenheim is behind us again. From four hundred meters they open up with all weapons. "Steady - let him get close!" repeats our pilot admonishing while steadily evading the field of fire. In the same manner as before, the field of fire for the Radio Operator comes clear.

The Obergefreiter waits as he has learned at gunnery school - still waiting a little longer, to some extent for the sake of the Oberleutnant, and then he shoots. "Well done, well done! Keep it up!" The shots hit home just between the cockpit and starboard engine. Then right in the engine. Two bursts of fire and the Blenheim is pushing off. It curves in a wide arc but not back towards us - no, but off to the west, very close to the water and towards England. She bugs out. Is that possible? Far superior in armament and speed, and so close to its home territory?

"She was hit in the engine," says the Radio Operator. "It was the only way," replies the Oberleutnant, "but in any case well done!" And then we turn for home in high spirits and fast-cruise. "It’s a brave, old sledge, our Fritz-Heinrich," muses the Captain. Will the Tommy dare to tell the truth when he gets home?

War Correspondent Kestner
Die Seeflieger der Deutschen Luftwaffe


Best wishes
Tim O.

[Larry Hickey]

Tim O.,

This is a beautiful story that really captures these often very boring recon missions. If this is undated, what we can tell is that this was that they were probably flying a 1 Staffel a/c, (??+FH--"Fritz-Heinrich"), which may give a clue as to the time frame from the pilot's career history.

This is the kind of thing that I'd love to integrate into the EoE project history as it really captures the story of what these missions were like.

I really appreciate your making this available and translating it Tim.