Losses German Bight 18.12.1939

[MW Giles]

There is nothing inconsistent in these later losses, they are following the 37 Sqn formation down the length of the Frisians and heading for home, though only one of them made it. Another group of fighters followed 9 and 149 uo towards Heligoland, though these lost contact sooner than the ones after the 37 Sqn formation

The problems in air combat, especially involving single seaters, is recording times and knowing exactly where you are when you made your claim. It all gets a bit frenetic and when you land thirty minutes later mistakes are made, plus I am sure there are typos in the write ups and a certain amount of discussion between pilots as to get a claim verified you need corroboration, especially over the sea. One says we were about 20km N of Langeooge when the e/a went down at 07:02, where as the other says they were 30km NW of Spiekeroog at 07:04 when it happened

The problem seems to be that some of the claim times as per the Tony Woods listing are inconsistent with the position of the aircraft at that time, this is not unusual. I have seen other times quoted in other places. It all adds to the fun

I probably cannot help you more

Regards

Martin