Luftwaffe aerial recon prior to D-Day

[Brian Bines]

Notes from a PRO file made some years ago on Enemy Air Avitivity Over the UK show 5th April Luftwaffe recon over the N.Sea and S/W Approaches, 6-4 evening recon over the English Channel , 19-4 single aircraft over IOW, 21-4 afternoon recon to Poole area. The E-Boot attack off Slapton Sands on 28th April has been reported as being the result of a Luftwaffe recon.
Between 3-9th May daily recon activity was reported and on May 20th there was recon to the Swanage and Dover areas.
Additionally on 7th march a Fw190 of Stab/NAG13 crashed in Guernsey following a recon to the S/W coast and on 28th. March a Bf109G of 5(F)/123 was shot down over France returning from a mission to London and the Thames Estuary.
No details of how well these missions went, there were also missions to Scotland.
Roman Gastager in the book Easter Bunnies refers to a couple of missions to Ireland and Southern England in a Ju88H1 in mid May.