12/10/1940 Bf109 Gunther Büsgen - Chatham/Rochester?

[Clint Mitchell]

Hi guys, I've just finished reading the Battle of Britain by Matthew Parker. On the first page of the last chapter titled 'Hitler's First Defeat' a Luftwaffe pilot called Gunther Büsgen gives an account of his eightieth sortie and at this point he had shot down six British fighters. the account is from the 12 October and it reads as follows:

On the eightieth occasion I copped it. On the way home I was attacked by a Hurricane and the hits were unfortunately all in the cooling system and when that was hit you had perhaps ten minutes' flying time before you had to bale out. We were told at that stage that if you were hit over England you had to get back over the channel. What nonsense! It was quite impossible. I was shot at 3,000 metres and, not following orders, went into a glide, but noticed the plane was losing height rapidly. I lifted my cockpit roof and started to get out, but made a mistake and banged my left arm, cutting it. After a few more flying minutes I landed the plane at an aerodrome at Chatham. There were two Home Guards there immediately with weapons, it seemed, out of the Tower of London. 'Hands up!' they said. I was quite good at English during my school days and explained, 'I can't take my hands up because one is broken.' They accepted this, took me prisoner and took me to hospital, where I was well treated. There was a junior officer guarding my single room who brought me some smart English cigarettes. He himself was smoking Woodbines and when I asked why he had brought me something better he said it was because I was a more senior officer!

Sorry for the long quote but I think it is a nice interesting story. Do we have any more information regarding this incident. I presume that the aircraft was landed in quite a good state? Do any photos exist? RAF report, variant, markings, WNr.? The only aerodrome in the area is Rochester airport/aerodrome which is really situated more in Chatham than Rochester so that is possibly the reason why Chatham is given as the location.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Clint

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi Clint

Quoting from Battle of Britain, then and now, it states
1./JG 52 Bf 109E-3 WNr 1966 Believed crashed at Beans Hill, Harrietsham 3.30pm following combat with fighters during freelance sortie over Kent. Oblt Buesgen baled out wounded and captured. Aircraft 11+ a write off.

Cheers
Stig

[Clint Mitchell]

Thanks Stig. That is strange as Gunther Büsgen seems to think that he landed the aircraft at Chatham/Rochester aerodrome. What do you think has happened here guys.

[Chris Goss]

I was in touch with Büsgen some years ago and visited him in Germany. The account he gave to me plus a photo of him is in my book 'The Luftwaffe's Fighters Battle of Britain'. Knowing him he would not have use the term 'Copped it' and differs from what he told me

[Clint Mitchell]

Thanks Chris, consider your book purchased. Do these authors not think that these accounts are able to be checked out with quite a bit of accuracy. For a book published in 2000 it's a bit of a shame I wasted my time reading it. Thanks gents for clearing the false claim of this incident up. I live very close to Rochester and was sure that I had not heard of this Bf109 landing before.

Clint

[Stig Jarlevik]

Sorry Chris

Never checked your book. Basically the two stories check except for the way he came down. Seems the official story is that he came down by parachute, so it would be interesting to know why he changed his story in the quoted book (if he really did of course). Sometimes I feel certain "authors" try to make a story more interesting by changing things which they feel makes a story more "thrilling". Never really understood why the truth is not thrilling enough....

Cheers
Stig

[Clint Mitchell]

The location is different also Stig. Harrietsham I believe is near Maidstone, not far from Chatham /Rochester airport but far enough. The author is possibly not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.