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