Fw 58 or He 59 - 11 August 1940

[Peter Cook]

Brian's research for this forthcoming 3rd volume in his Battle of Britain history has pointed out for me a possible connumdrum over an incident that took place over the Channel on 11 August 1940. A Fw 58 'hack' aircraft was apparently attacked by Spitfires of 610 Squadron, who reported it as a He 59, they then went on to attack a second He 59, which was claimed as damaged, before they were attacked in turn by Bf 109s. Uffz Ferdinand Decker, a groundcrewman with 5./JG 54, was wounded in the attack on the Fw 58, and Brian's research links the shooting down of two 610 Squadron's Spitfires to claims by Hptm Dietrich Hrabak and Ofw Hier of 4./JG 54.
However, my own research raises some questions. 610 Squadron took off at 10.46 and F/L Smith's claim for a He 59 damaged was made at 11.15. But the claims by Hrabak and Hier, as listed in Tony Wood's OKL Luftwaffe claims file, were timed at 10.00 and 10.05 BST respectively – over an hour earlier – and can be linked to an engagement over the Channel with Spitfires of 64 and 74 Squadrons. It is much more likely that 610 Squadron were attacked by I./JG 52, which made three claims for Spitfires between 11.23 and 11.25 BST.

On the issue of the Fw 58 versus a He 59, I find it hard to imagine that as the pilots of 610 Squadron encountered two He 59s, they did not spot the obvious difference between the Fw 58, which had no floats and was a monoplane, versus the much larger He 59 which was a biplane with twin floats. On the issue of Uffz Ferdinand Deckert, Michael Balss' Luftwaffe claims and losses book lists him as wounded as part of the crew of a He 59 of Seenotflugkdo 2 that was attacked later that day off Cherbourg:

Balss - 2018 - Luftwaffe Losses & Claims - Vol. 3 p. 225
Seenot.St. Cherbourg - OP - Kanal
Take off Cherbourg - Off Calais - Shot down in flames by Spitfire (601.Sq.)
He 59 D - 100% damage
Bm Uffz. Ferdinand Deckert WIA (von 2.(H)/14), 3 crew safe

Any thoughts?

Peter

[Nick Beale]

From TNA HW 13/28: German Naval Air Activity Vol. II: Carrier- and land-based units (28 Dec 1939–31 Dec 1940)

11 August 1940, North Sea

… the bulk of the work was done by CWA (Cherbourg?) who controlled surface craft CWW, CWT, LWH and LWB between 0545 and 1705. CWW left port at 0545 and reported a strong swell and state of sea 3–4. At 1104, he sighted 5 aircraft in close formation 50 km 330º W. of Cherbourg. He sent out an SOS at 1246 reporting a salvage aircraft in flames. The crew was picked up and control was asked to have an ambulance and surgeon at the harbour for a severe casualty. Meanwhile, at 1244, CWT also sent out an SOS announcing that he was engaging enemy fighters. At 1301 a third unit LWH told control he was proceeding to place of accident (position was not given) … CWT informed Control at 1405 that he had pcked up a Flight Serjeant [sic] (Nr. 14 60027) and handed him over to an S-boat.

"Salvage aircraft" is (I think) what the British listeners were calling what we'd term a rescue aircraft.

[Seaplanes]

On 11 August 1940 the He 59D W.Nr. 1845 St.kz. TW+HL of Seenotflugkdo.2 in Cherbourg was reported 100% lost in the Channel off Cherbourg. One source says "Brennend abgestürzt" and another that the plane capsized during rescue attempt. Lt.z.See Kemper and Fw. Dahmen were rescued. What happend to the rest of the crew, Obgefr. Apelt and Uffz. Palm, is not known.

[Chris Goss]

...and this sounds like the He 59 destroyed by 604 Sqn. 601 claimed no He 59s and "off Cherbourg" is way out of 610 Sqn's operating area

[Peter Cook]

Thanks for the input, Nick, 'Seaplanes', and Chris,

The main part of my request concerned the action involving 610 Squadron, which made its He 59 claims over the Channel, '3 miles off Calais' according to F/L Smith's combat report, many miles from Cherbourg. The He 59s attacked by 610 Squadron were presumaby from Seenotflugkdo 3, based at Boulogne, which reported no losses.

There is still the question of the Fw 58 and Uffz Ferdinand Decker – which unit did he belong to, and how could Smith have confused a Fw 58 with a He 59?

In a recent emial exchange with Brian Cull he remembered that Chris has posted the following on the Key-Aero forum:

Curiously, Uffz Ferdinand Decker, a groundcrewman from 5./JG 54, was wounded by two British fighters while flying in a twin-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe monoplane. This had taken off at 1100hrs to help drop a dinghy to two survivors of a Blenheim of 53 Squadron shot down earlier. Decker was wounded in the leg for his troubles by Flt Lt Edward Smith of 610 Squadron off Calais; Smith had claimed to have damaged a Heinkel He 59 biplane.

Peter