He 111B or P

[Maurice P]

Good evening all

I am currently trying to absorb the massive amount of information in Peter Cornwell's excellent Battle of France Then and Now, and have discovered an apparent contradiction.

An entry on page 115 refers to He 111B (1403) 1G+BM of 4./KG 27 as damaged but repairable but

on page 316 another entry refers to He 111P-2 (1403) 1G+BM of 4./KG 27 being a write off.

As I am not a Luftwaffe expert, could someone please tell me if this means, as I think it probably does, that He 111B 1403 was repaired and upgraded to He 111P-2 status and returned to service with the same unit with the same codes or whether there is a typo in the quoted wnr for one of them.

Thanks in advance

Maurice Perry

[David Ransome]

Hi,

Unfortunately I don't have access to all my records at present so maybe others can assist and help put the 'records straight'.

I have 1403 as a Dornier built P-2 which suffered 15% damage in a night fighter attack on 9 April 1941 which precludes it from being written off earlier. From memory my info came from loss list and some unit documentation. If anyone can advise otherwise, with source, I'd be very grateful!

Regards

David

[Jim P.]

The sources I have for the 39 loss are a Gen.Qu. entry and Vol.2 of Waiss' Boelcke-Archiv. Waiss has it listed both ways as well, the May loss being listed as a He 111P. The early Gen.Qu. loss is evidently in error, a not particularly unusual occurence.

[Maurice P]

David, Jim,

Thank you for your answers, I appreciate the time you have taken to reply.

In summation as I understand it now - 1403 was a 111P-2 with the may loss showing as a 111B probably being an error in the original source documentation used by Peter when compiling his book.

Maurice Perry