Heinkel He 59 D-ASUO

[Seaplanes]

On 9 July 1940 this aircraft with red-cross markings was forced down on the Goodwin Sands and towed by boat to Walmer life boat station near Ramsgate. At the end of July, the aircraft was towed to Dover harbour and moored there. Can someone give the story what happend to this plane after Dover. It was mentioned in the newspaper Dover Express on 2 August 1940.

Secondly I would ask for an interrogation report of the crew of this aircraft. The pilot was Uffz. Helmut Barthmann, or something close to this.

Did any other He 59 reach British shores during 1940, or was D-ASUO the only one.

I do hope that someone could help me out.

[Matti Salonen]

The crew was:
Flugzeugführer Uffz Barthmann, Helmuth
Beobachter Uffz Anders, Walter
Bordfunker Uffz Schiele, Erich
Bordmechaniker Fw Maywald, Günther

Matti

[Seaplanes]

Thanks Matti. In Britian they usually spell German names with u in stead of ü,
and often forget the h in Gunther or Helmuth so it is important to get the names correct.

I do hope my other questions can be answered too.

[Chris Goss]

It was allocated to the MAEE for evaluation but ended up being broken up in situ. Rumour has it that souvenir hunters were partly responsible

[Seaplanes]

Is there no known interrogation report of the crew of this aircraft ?
I am sure there must be something.

[Chris Goss]

Yes it is in LCA Vol 1

[Peter Cook]

Following on from Chris's comment, Nigel Parker's excellent Luftwaffe Crash Archive Volume p.61-63 (Red Kite/Wingleader 2013) has a series of photos of D-ASUO and a short Intelligence Report. If you can't get hold of a copy pm me with your email address and I will scan the pages for you.

I can't find any other instance of 'captured' He 59s, a number were lost at sea and some were sunk at their moorings in storms. There is a pretty complete list of He 59 and other Luftwaffe maritime losses at:

http://www.luftwaffe-zur-see.de/Seel...n/Jahr1940.htm

For additional information Chris's Sea Eagles Volume 1 (Classic Publications, 2005) is a very good overview of Luftwaffe anti-shipping units 1939-41, and includes photos and some excellent colour profiles of He 59s.

Samaritans or Spies, is a good article by Andrew Thomas in Luftwaffe Eagles, Battle of Britain Special, ed. Ken Ellis (Key Publishing, 2015) which includes colour profiles of D-ASUO and many photographs.

More general works that include coverage of the He 59 are:

Aufklärer, Bomber, Seenotretter. See-Mehrzweckflugzeuge Heinkel He 59 und He 115, by Christian König (Helios Verlag, 2020).

Rettung zwischen den Fronten: Seenotdienst der deutschen Luftwaffe 1939-1945, by Karl Born (Taschenbuch, 2001).

Eagles over the Sea: a History of Luftwaffe Maritime Operations 1939-42, by Lawrence Paterson (Seaforth Publishing, 2019).

I hope that this helps.

Peter