29 MAY 1940

[malcolmjameswilson]

Hello Peter,

Thank you for the reply. My research skills are limited to the commonly used documents. It is my hope that other sources of information could exist to help to expand these events. One point I would like to address is the possibility that Dilnutt did shoot down a ME109 that day. Would you or any Forum member have any ideas on how I can verify this?

If anyone reading this has knowledge of any photos of the crews or individual crew members mentioned in the original posting – especially Diluntt – and/or their aircraft I would be very interested to hear from them.

Kind regards, Malcolm.

[Peter Cornwell]

Hello again Malcolm,

I regret that IMO you will be unable to verify DILLNUTT's claim. Luftwaffe losses are quite well documented so we can be fairly sure that no Bf109Es were lost, or even suffered significant damage, on May 29, 1940, during the engagement with the Ansons of Nos. 48 and 500 Squadrons. This applies to all units and not solely II./JG26 who we know was that principally involved.

The original source for this would be the Luftwaffe Quartermaster General's Returns Genst.Gen.Qu.6.Abt.(Ic) a copy of which is held by the Imperial War Museum in London. However, several published sources (and I believe web sites) provide essentially the same information. I recommend the excellent Jagdfliegerverbande der Deutschen Luftwaffe: Teil 3 by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, & Bock which documents all losses by German fighter units for the period and incorporates the best current research.

A case of wishful thinking by the RAF I suppose, but the story gained considerable credence at the time and has clearly lost nothing by being repeated fairly regularly over the intervening years.

[malcolmjameswilson]

Hello Peter,

Thank you for the helpful information. Disapointing news regarding his claim. However, quite an achievement to beat off 9 ME109's between them!

Kind regards, Malcolm.