He177 claimed 23/24-7-1942

[Brian Bines]

On this night the Luftwaffe lost four Do217s attacking England, U5+CN crashing near Holbeach shared by 409 and 486 Sqd., U5+DL crashing Gilze Rijen on return, with U5+FR and F8+GP both missing. Against this 68 Sqd.claimed three Do217s, a Ju88 and a He177 this last one by S/Ldr Vesely with Sgt Necas in Beaufighter V8254. The time on Vesely's combat report is shown as 2035hrs but as he took off from Coltishall at 2320hrs and landed at 0158hrs I assume this should be 0035hrs. The combat report goes onto to say the E/A was seen clearly against the moon and was at first thought to be a large twin engined flying boat, it was then thought it might be a Wellington but was considered too large and the pilot finally decided it was a He177. Following being attacked the E/A was last seen at 500 feet going down vertically into the sea, with Sgt.Necas thinking it had a rear turret similar to a Wellington. The combat is shown as approx. 100miles on a bearing of 140 to 145 degrees from Coltishall.
I could not find anything in GQM for this night apart from the four Do217s mentioned, are there any other possibilities including perhaps a Wellington.

[Chris Goss]

I reached this combat for Sgt. Necas some years ago-he admits that their identification was flawed as to it being a He 177