Circus 33, 7 July 1941

[Greg S.]

Hi,

I'm looking for some informations of Circus 33 operation on 7 July 1941.

I'm interesting in who claime victories on this action:

312 Sqn 0-0-1
485 Sqn 1-0-0
611 Sqn 0-0-1
Biggin Hill Wing (74, 92, 609 Sqns) 0-0-2
145 Sqn 0-1-1
610 Sqn 1-0-0

And two more questions about 610 - who crash landed near Brighton and who escorted pilot bale out near Margate and gave a fix on the position?

Thanx in advance

[Bruce Lander]

Hi,

Circus 33 was actually on July 5th!

Claims were as follows:

485 Sq. F/Lt. E.P.Wells--------------- Bf.109

610 Sq.Sgt. G.Mains-------------------Bf.109

74 Sq. S/Ldr. S.T.Meares--------------Bf.109 Damaged

Biggin Hill W/Cdr. A.G.Malan------------Bf.109 damaged

145 Sq. F/O. F.Machacek-------------Bf.109 Probable
Unknown pilot----------------Bf.109 Damaged

611 Sq. P/O. J.F.Reeves---------------Bf.109 Damaged

312 Sq. F/Sgt. V.Smolik---------------Bf.109 Probable

Losses were:

54 Sq. P/O. K.E.Knox KIA

616 Sq. F/Lt. C.McFie POW

308 Sq, Sgt. Krzyzagorski shot down in sea and rescued OK

German Losses:

Bf.109F-2 (12649) II/JG.2 100% Crashed near Armentieres
Pilot Parachuted safely

Bf.109F-2 (5772) III/JG.2 60% Force landed F/P St.Pol pilot OK

Bf.109E-3 (5027) 2/JFS.5 100% Engine failure, crashed at F/P. Guyencourt
pilot - Uffz.Hermann Schwardt killed

the 2 JG.2 aircraft may or may not have been lost due to combat ?

Cheers

Bruce

[Chris Goss]

Knox was probably shot down by Ulenberg of 2/JG 26 and crashed at Renninghelst

[Greg S.]

Thanx a lot!

And Circus 33 was on 5 July of course, you are right!

I'm particulary interesting in pilot of 610 Sqn who help Sgt Krzyzagorski from 308 giving a fix of his water-landing. Thanx this there was find another pilot - Sgt Gorecki from 303 Sqn who was shot down to the sea on 2 July.

[Fairlop]

Hi,

Some corrections.
485 Sqn 2-0-0, 2x 109 by F/L „Hawkeye“ Wells
611 Sqn 1-0-0, 1x 109 by P/O Reeves
145 Sqn 0-1-1, 2x 109 F/O Machacek

Michal

[Greg S.]

Originally Posted by Fairlop

485 Sqn 2-0-0, 2x 109 by F/L „Hawkeye“ Wells

Are you sure? I found 1-0-0 both in Circus 33 report of operation and in Fighter Command Combat & Casaulities. Vol. I, NA AIR 16/960.

[Bruce Lander]

Hi,

"Aces High" does credit Wells with 2 - 109's on this date but the Combats and casualties (Tony Wood / Jim perry website) states only 1 !!!

From "Bader's Tangmere Spitfires" pp112 commenting on Circus 33:-

"The wing orbited Lille, seeing 3 Stirlings leaving the Target smoking. F/Lt. R.A.Lee-Knight of 610 Sq escorted a Spitfire with a dead propellor, but approaching Margate the pilot baled out. Lee-Knight then sent a fix on the pilots position , some 10-15 miles S of Manston and covered a Lysander to the downed pilot"

Over the target area Sgt Mains shot down a Bf.109 seeing the pilot bale out ( possibly that from II/JG2 ? )

Any comments on Wells' second claim anyone

Cheers

Bruce Lander

[Bruce Lander]

Hi,

a little more information on Well's second claim from "New Zealanders in the Royal Air Force" :-


On 5 July Flight Lieutenant Wells scored No. 485’s first success over France. Thirteen Spitfires from the squadron, in company with others from No. 258, led by Clouston, were flying as part of the close cover to Stirling bombers in their attack on a steelworks at Lille. As the British formation neared the target area several Messerschmitts approached the bombers. Wells got on the tail of one of them and, after a brief attack, the enemy machine went down and the pilot was seen to bale out. A few minutes later, when the Spitfires were returning to the French coast, he attacked a second Messerschmitt. After a few short bursts the enemy machine caught fire and went spinning down.

Was the second actually credited as a confirmed ?

Cheers

Bruce Lander

[phasselgren]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lander

Hi,

a little more information on Well's second claim from "New Zealanders in the Royal Air Force" :-


On 5 July Flight Lieutenant Wells scored No. 485’s first success over France. Thirteen Spitfires from the squadron, in company with others from No. 258, led by Clouston, were flying as part of the close cover to Stirling bombers in their attack on a steelworks at Lille. As the British formation neared the target area several Messerschmitts approached the bombers. Wells got on the tail of one of them and, after a brief attack, the enemy machine went down and the pilot was seen to bale out. A few minutes later, when the Spitfires were returning to the French coast, he attacked a second Messerschmitt. After a few short bursts the enemy machine caught fire and went spinning down.

Was the second actually credited as a confirmed ?

Cheers

Bruce Lander

Bruce,

According to No.485 (N.Z.) Sqadron by Sortehaug/Listemann the second claim was confirmed. The same for An Illustrated History of The New Zealand Spitfire Squadron by Kevin Wells and Spitfire: The New Zealand Story by Gerard Morris.

Cheers,
Peter