German aircrew shot down over UK

[Brian Bines]

A lot of the abuse cases appear to be by servicemen rather than civilians, and as Peter says a lot of tales turn out to be Urban myth. One story was that a Ju88 crew shot down over Portsmouth on 12-8-40 were excecuted by French Sailors and the bodies deposed of in their ships boilers. However three of the crew of one Ju88 shot down over Portsmouth were taken POW, and the body of one of the crew of Ltn Seidel's aircraft, which was reported as hit by AA over Portsmouth was washed ashore in France.
There is a darker version of the report that troops shot dead a 109 pilot as a mercy killing because he was trapped in his blazing cockpit after crash-landing.
Uffz Perez of II/JG26 shot down 30-9-40 claimed to have been shot/beaten up by troops after he belly-landed I do not know how true his claim is.
Fw Koslowski of 7/JG51 baled out badly burned on 25-10-40 and was treated by an off duty nurse who resisted the hostile attitude of other onlookers who wanted to leave the German to die. A case of both sides of human nature.
The surviving crew of the He177 shot down near Saffron Walden on 18/19-4-44 claimed to have been roughly handled bu US servicemen when taken to a US airfield.
The book Eagle Day by Richard Collier mentions a couple of 1940 incidents in Chapter 7 but these include the East Wittering incident dealt by Peter.
The victims of air-attack are not always likely to see enemy aircrew as 'Knights of the Air'.