Bf109E Queries 1940

[Peter Cornwell]

Steve,

Nobody can confirm the identities of these two aircraft. Surviving records are contradictory & do not support such positive assertions. As you already know, the GQM Returns simply record Bf109E-4 (6072) for Oberlt RATH & Bf109E-4 (1643) for Lt ZIEGLER both of II./JG54 lost as result of a collision in combat over London. The NVMs of II./JG54 further confirm that Oberlt Johann RATH of 4./JG54 lost his tail & baled out over South London (witnessed by Fw HEPPLE) while Lt Rudolf ZIEGLER (Gruppe TO) of Stab II./JG54 collided with the wreckage.

The collision occurred over the Chelsham area and both pilots were reported in their parachutes ‘north of Westerham’ in an ARP message logged at 11.52 hours. RAF Intelligence A.I.1.(k) Report 354/1940 reported RATH’s aircraft down at Ledgers Farm, Chelsham, at 11.55 hours & carrying a ‘White 6’. However, photos of the crash site prove that it came down at Fickleshole Farm which is immediately adjacent to that location. The bulk of the wreckage fell in fields near Chelsham Church while the tail fluttered down at Forty Acre Bank. It was spirited away to Broom Lodge where Mr Pill kept it for many years. Depending on which reports you wish to believe, RATH either came down in Granville Road in Limpsfield or at Meadowside in De Tillers Lane.

Similarly, A.I. 1.(k) Report 355/1940 recorded ZIEGLER, down at Oxted which is where he landed by parachute near Thrubhurst Cottages & Holland Post Office. An ARP Report provides a more accurate location of the actual crash site as ‘1/4 mile south of Layhams Farm’ and again photos confirm this as the location. ZIEGLER was highly security conscious and seems to have misled RAF Intelligence into believing he was flying ‘White 5’ probably in order to disguise his true identity as a member of the Stabsschwarm. However, this is something that should have been self-evident to A.I.1.(k) given his ID number (71121/4).

Finally, and just to muddy already murky water, a subsequent A.I.1.(g) Report No.27 dated 2.9.1940 describes Stab markings found on wreckage of the ‘Me109 crashed at Fickleshole Farm, near Chelsham’. Such markings were clearly more appropriate to ZIEGLER’s aircraft than that of RATH all of which points to even more confusion in the RAF Intelligence reporting of both crashes. Both sites have been excavated post-war but to my knowledge nothing was recovered to permit more positive identification of either machine.