FW200 Bombing England in 1940/41

[Jon]

A month or so back a thread was posted about a FW200 shown in a painting attacking mainland Britain with a force of HE111's, they were being attacked by 238 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, almost every response said this did not happen and the FW200 never acted as heavy bomber of English land targets in WW2...i also agree with this but...
on page 97 of Alfred Prices "The Luftwaffe in Camera 1939-1942" it shows the tail of a FW200 with 10 attacks on shipping indicated and 13 attacks under "England"
Can anyone give some indication as to what these England attacks could be?
The FW200 looks to be from1/KG 40 flown by LT Buchholz

[Larry]

I seem to remember reading some years ago that Fw 200 aircraft were active over the Irish Sea and that they may have attacked Liverpool. But the route to the area was said to be over the sea and not over southern England as depicted in the painting I saw at Middle Wallop.

[Chris Goss]

England in this case usually means missions around the British Isles as opposed to over England

[bill norman]

Just to put the cat decidedly among the pigeons re. the FW200s shown in a painting attacking mainland Britain with a force of HE111's. The artist Edmund Miller assures me that he was given this information by fighter pilot Bob Doe, who was one of those who engaged the attackers.

[brewerjerry]

Hi
my notes are still packed, due to my emigration , but from memory , during my pro/na research...

in the diary of the GRU detachment ( 02?) at exeter, devon, 11-12 may 41, recorded that eight aircraft attacked the airfield, one of the attacking bombers was a FW 200.

devonport dockyard , plymouth devon, was attacked in daylight by a four engined bomber in late 40/ early 41.

I seem to recall an incident with 247sq over cornwall with a fw 200, april 41, I think.
cheers
jerry

[Jon]

Hello Jerry

Very interesting, can you please make sure you dig the notes out when you get a chance.
I have always suspected or, at least wanted to belive the FW200 crossed the coast on occasions...it would have had a better chance of survival than a DO17 or HE111 in daylight.
Looking forward to your response, and good luck with the emigration.

Jon

[robert_schulte]

Originally Posted by bill norman

Just to put the cat decidedly among the pigeons re. the FW200s shown in a painting attacking mainland Britain with a force of HE111's. The artist Edmund Miller assures me that he was given this information by fighter pilot Bob Doe, who was one of those who engaged the attackers.

Just found this in the book "The most dangereous enemy" by S. Bungay:
"The Luftwaffe opened the new month of October [1940] by sending 48 Bf 109s of JG2 and JG53 and the remaining 32 BF 110s of ZG26 on a sweep over Portsmouth. ... Bob Doe led down the six Hurricanes of 238 Squadron in a bounce from 5000 feet above them, and got the Messerschmitt from below as he pulled up from the dive. He reported seeing some four-engined Focke-Wulf 200 bombers - usually used for maritime reconnaissance - in the formation, which the fighters may have joined as they set out for the western approaches."
No mentioning of any other forces like He 111s.
In the appendix of the book, following explanation is given:
"This aircraft, called the Condor, was flown by KG40, which was attached to Airfleet 3 at this time. German records contain no mention of any mission flown by the unit on 1 October, but they were used for nuisance raids on distant targets as well as reconnaissance, usually in small numbers. One of them carried out a nuisance raid on Liverpool during the night."

[Chris Goss]

Irrespective, a clear case of mistaken identity I am afraid. For example, the crash of a He 111 in Kent during the Battle was stated as being a 4-engined aircraft when cxlearly it was not

[Matchless650]

Originally Posted by robert_schulte

Just found this in the book "The most dangereous enemy" by S. Bungay:
"The Luftwaffe opened the new month of October [1940] by sending 48 Bf 109s of JG2 and JG53 and the remaining 32 BF 110s of ZG26 on a sweep over Portsmouth. ... Bob Doe led down the six Hurricanes of 238 Squadron in a bounce from 5000 feet above them, and got the Messerschmitt from below as he pulled up from the dive. He reported seeing some four-engined Focke-Wulf 200 bombers - usually used for maritime reconnaissance - in the formation, which the fighters may have joined as they set out for the western approaches."
No mentioning of any other forces like He 111s.
In the appendix of the book, following explanation is given:
"This aircraft, called the Condor, was flown by KG40, which was attached to Airfleet 3 at this time. German records contain no mention of any mission flown by the unit on 1 October, but they were used for nuisance raids on distant targets as well as reconnaissance, usually in small numbers. One of them carried out a nuisance raid on Liverpool during the night."

I have a 'signed' edition of Bob Doe's autobiography 'Fighter Pilot'.

He describes the above incident on page 44. He states, ".....so I carried on down in a steep dive....and partly pulled out at the bottom to have a shot at two bombers which to this day, I am convinced were four engined Condors".

Bob Doe was I believe the third highest scoring RAF ace in the BoB.