Do 17Z-7

[BennoT6]

Hi,

On page 110, book2, of "Vijf jaar luchtfront" (1984) it say's that a forced, single engine, landing was made since the landinggear would not come down. Only 50 m from the "Gefechtstand" the Do17 came to a halt. Tower was informed prior the belly-landing.

Regards,

Benno

[Mikael Olrog]

Hello Leo,

Unfortunately the text in Luftwaffe Focus edition 10 contain some errors.

1) The Do 17 Z-6 had nothing to do with Kauz night fighters, it is an unfortunate misstake which is repeated all to often in publications and on the web

2) The first short nosed night figher Dornier were the Do 17 Z-7 Kaus I (more than three built and there are more W.Nr. identified)
3) The improved version was labelled Do 17 Z-10 Kauz II

[Chris Goss]

...and from what I have seen, intruders should not be operating at 0900 hrs and in any case, there were no claims for a Do 17 damaged. I believe it is an assumption that this was the aircraft claimed as destroyed off Skegness by 151 Sqn. Intruders were active the night of 8-9 Nov 40 attacking Driffield, Hemswell, Scampton and Hucknall. They did report 3 Spitfires and a twin-engined fighter and claimed to have possibly shot down a Spitfire (!). A later report mentions a Spitfire being encountered over Driffield at 0900 hrs on 9 Nov 40 but Skegness to Driffield is quite a distance and the Do 17 was attacked inbound to the target it would appear.

[ju55dk]

BAMA
Junker

[Theo Boiten]

Dear all,

Chris -your remark 'intruders should not be operating at 0900 hrs' is incorrect in this case, this is what I've quoted from the Flugbuch of Ofw. Schmid in the NCA series: The pilot, Ofw. Herbert Schmid recorded in his Flugbuch: “2555th flight, Schmid + 2, Do17 Z R4 HK, Nachtjagd, Gilze-Rijen 9.11. 06.50, Gilze-Rijen 9.11. 11.10, 260 (mins), 1300 (kms), 24th Einsatz E(ngland), enemy contact, belly landing”.

Cheers, Theo

[Rottler]

Hello Mikael, Chris, Junker and Theo,

many thanks for your clarifications.

Regards
Leo

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Theo-unusual if not brave. However, the only combat was 0900 hrs German time and nowhere near Driffield which he is said to have attacked and apparently claimed a Spitfire which he does not mention?

[TigerTimon]

Chris, I would highly recommend purchasing the most recent work of Dr. Boiten, the Nachtjagd Combat Archive The Early Years part one.
To give supplemental information for the night of 8-9 November:

The OKL reported on 9 November that none of them achieved 'Feindberührung'. Ten Fernnachtjäger of I./NJG 2 were active over Britain, the crew dropping 1.7 tons of HE bombs on three aerodromes. One intruder, a Do 17 Z-10 (so it's actually a Z-7) of 2./NJG 2 was badly damaged in combat with two 151 Squadron Hurricanes at dawn off Skegness and limped back to Gilze-Rijen on one engine and with two injured crew members.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks I am aware of Theo's works but I refer to the locations, the aircraft attacked was approaching the coast and not over Driffield which was 80+ miles away and the fact the RAF pilots said it crashed in the sea, a crash confirmed by other sources. The fog of war again!

[Stig Jarlevik]

Interesting topic

Some observations.

Very unfortunate that Luftwaffe in Focus make such glaring mistakes as this.

Something must have attacked Schmidt's Kauz since he says so himself in his FB. Since his FB does not say when or where I doubt that OKL had any closer details of exactly where that happened either.

So what did he encounter?
Intruders over Britain by Simon Perry says it was a Beaufighter
Battle of Britain, the forgotten months by John Foreman says it was AA-fire near Lincoln
Luftwaffe in Focus mentions a Hurricane near Lincoln.
Chris and Tiger points to 151 Sq (operating Hurricanes) and a claim off Skegness (they seems to me to be the best bet!)
Officially from OKL only Spitfires and a twin-engined aircraft are mentioned

I am also interesting in why Schmidt's aircraft is said to have been heavily damaged. 10% is a very slight damage, especially if an aircraft is belly landed! To have one engine shot out and then belly land it and only suffer 10% damage is quite a miracle the way I see it.....

Cheers
Stig