Blenheim Claims - 10th May 1940

[Blenheim]

Can anyone help me with the times of Johannes Steinhoff's two claims for Blenheim kills on 10th May 1940 please? One was at Den Haag and the other was at Dusseldorf. I am trying to establish which Blenheims might have been involved but without some idea of the time of the combat I have little chance.

Thank you in advance.

[bordfunker50]

40 and 18sqn lost crews that day, 40 lost 3 in the hage area. 1 mid morning the other 2 late afternoon going by BC losses book.

M

[Blenheim]

Thank you Bordfunker50, I am aware of the Blenheim losses of those Squadrons. What I am trying to do is ascribe a Blenheim to each claim made by a Luftwaffe pilot or at least establish that it wasn't a Blenheim if no Blenheim was lost at that time.

At the moment I have a list of over six hundred claims for Blenheim kills made by more than four hundred Luftwaffe pilots (and both lists are growing). In order to identify the particular Blenheim involved in each claim, prove that it wasn't a Blenheim or establish what other aircraft it was, I need more information than I have on times and locations in some cases. So I thought I would ask about two claims on one particular and well known day to see if people out there were able to help me. Sort of dipping a toe in the water if you like.

[Chris Goss]

Accodring to Peter Cornwell's BoF T&N, Steinhoff possibly got L1405/18 Sqn at 1020 hrs near Dusseldorf but I cannot see a second claim

[Pieter H]

There are two issues with these claims.

First, all claims of ObLt Steinhoff are un-timed, which makes it difficult to verify the details. But this is my thinking:

1. the first claim of Steinhoff (his 3rd) seems to be clustered acc Prien with the two claims of Ofw Förster of the same unit, both being Fokker G-1's. This would date the claim as early morning May 10. At that time there were no Blenheims active over western Holland yet. But aircraft recognition was notoriously bad on both sides, so there is a high likelihood that the a/c claimed was not a Blenheim. The closest in terms of appearance over this theatre is then a Fokker T5, but then there are no unaccounted Fokker T5's at that time.
   Alternatively, if there is no match with the two claims of Förstner, it could be a Blenheim of No. 40 Sqn in the afternoon around 4.30-4.50 p.m. BST. At the same time these a/c also seem to be claimed by 2./ZG1.
2. the second claim at Duesseldorf seems a bit easier, and also Peter Cornwell followed this explanation. In the morning Blenheim L1405 of No. 18 Sqn was sent out to reconnoitre the Maas bridges and German crossings, and was shot down somewhere along the Dutch-German border. So from a location perspective this seems to match. Time around 09.00 BST.

The last topic is then the unit of ObLt Steinhoff. In the Tony Wood list, referring to Prien it says 11.(N)/JG26. First, this should be 11.(N)/JG2, probably a typo. But then according most sources only 10. and 12. Staffel were based on the western front in Hopsten, while 11. Staffel was at this time in Trondheim, Norway. So assuming that Steinhoff claims are correct he should be from any of the other two Staffeln. Can someone confirm? Alternatively, Steinhoff was indeed in 11., but then his claims should be over Norway.

So still some open questions.
Regards, Pieter

[robert]

Hi,

one addition: 4 Blenheim bombers of 40 Sqn had been shot down in the afternoon by 2./ZG1 and stII./ZG1 (source: FB of one of the involved pilots).

Regards

Robert