25/05/1940 Hs126 losses

[Luc Vervoort]

Hi,


According to ‘ The Battle of France ‘ by Peter Cornwell two Hs126 were lost on 25/05/1940. One near Armentières and a second one at Wattripont airstrip.


The Orb of 605 Squadron (AIR 27/2088) mentions for the first mission of 25/05/1940 :
6 aircraft took off at 05.54 hrs to rendezvous over Hawkinge with 11 aircraft 17 Squadron forming composite flight Squadron 605/17. Escorting 6 Blenheims reconnaissance at Gravelines later to proceed on patrol Menin – Tournai – Courtrai for 1 hour returning Hawkinge. After covering Blenheims for 20 minutes, composite Squadron patrolled “ A “ Flight at 15,000 ft., “ B “ Flight at 8,000 ft so as to clear reconnaissance leaving “ A “ Flight in the sun. No enemy aircraft encountered except by Yellow 3. P/O. Muirhead who saw two Henschel 126 at 10,000 ft. attacked and shot one down definitely.
The Form 541 of the same Orb gives for P/O.Muirhead t/o 6h00 and landing at 7h35.


The Orb of 17 Squadron (AIR 27/234) mentions for the same mission the following details :
0535. Weather fair. Eleven aircraft took off for escorting Blenheims over Gravelines, Menin no action reported and all aircraft landed at 0730 hours.
The same orb reports for the second mission of the day : … Adye almost flew into a lone Henschel 126. He fired a five second burst and the enemy aircraft burst into flames and hit the ground.


Are P/O.Muirhead and Adye the pilots who shot down the Hs126’s mentioned in ‘ The Battle of France ‘ ?


Best regards


Luc

[Peter Cornwell]

Almost certainly Luc. But I currently have insufficient information to determine which was which.

4.(H)/13 Henschel Hs126B-1. Crashed near Armentières, cause not stated. FF Uffz Hans Jander and BO Fw Fritz Peyinghaus both captured wounded - later released. Aircraft 10% damaged - repairable.

4.(H)/22 Henschel Hs126B-1. Badly damaged by fighters near Courtrai and abandoned over Wattripont airstrip, south-west of Ronse, 8.15 a.m. Pilot baled out unhurt, BO Oberlt Hans Niggel (Staffelbildoffizier) killed. Aircraft 100% write-off.

[Luc Vervoort]

Dear Peter,


Many thanks for your reply.


Checked AIR27/234 again. The t/o of P/O.Adye for his second mission of that day was at 10h40 and he landed at 11h40.


When we put the available data chronologically (all in UK time) we get :
06h00 T/O of P/O.Muirhead
07h15 Hs126 shot down (is it correct that the 8h15 mentioned for this is the German time, which results in 7h15 UK time ?)
07h35 Landing of P/O. Muirhead


10h40 T/O of P/O. Adye (for his second mission of the day)
11h40 Landing of P/O. Adye


The distance from Wattripont to Hawkinge is approx.173 km. There is a difference of 20 minutes between the shooting down of the Hs126 and the landing of P/O.Muirhead. To cover the distance of approx. 173 km in 20 minutes the aircraft used would have to fly at a speed of 519 km/h, which is less than the maximum speed of an Hurricane.


Can we conclude that the Hs126 which crashed at Wattripont was probably shot down by P/O.Muirhead ?

Best regards

Luc

[Peter Cornwell]

Luc,

With some degree of confidence I would say. There is a good account of the loss of this aircraft in the unit chronicle Wir Suchen Den Feind by Heinz PAPE (Bertelsmann 1941) that confirms that they took off at 07.30 hours and had not returned by 08.45 hours (CET). This would equate to their loss around 07.00 hours (BST) which corresponds neatly with MUIRHEAD’s claim. The pilot, who survived, later reported that they had been attacked by three ‘Moranes’ over Passchendaele but there are no related French claims in that area at the time. By elimination, that makes the 4.(H)/13 loss ‘possibly’ that claimed by ADYE. Thanks for this thread – good outcome.

[Luc Vervoort]

Dear Peter,

Checked the Volksbund website and Oberlt Hans Niggel is mentioned as Hans Niggl, born on 2/02/1914 and died on 25/04/1940 (which is not correct).



He is buried at the Lommel German War Cemetery at Block 59 Grave 73. He was previously buried at Mons and on 27/07/1949 his body was transferred to Lommel.


best regards


Luc