LUFTWAFFE CLAIM FOR WESTLAND WHIRLWIND P6989

[niallc]

Malcolm

The Squadron ORB gives Time up as 1835, Time Down 1915. S/L Donaldson's Combat Report gives the time of attack as 18.55. Since Britain was on BST (GMT +1) at the time and Germany on GST (GMT + 2) one might expect any Luftwaffe account of the combat to be timed at 19.55 or thereabouts. I don't know if this rules out Christian's suggestion of an intruder sortie or not, but, since the aircraft was over land, I assume we can rule out anti-shipping and probably Wekusta ops.

Donaldson had very little operational experience and aircraft recognition, particularly of rarely-encountered types, was not a strong point of RAF fighter pilots. Dorniers were frequently misidentifed as Ju88s and even Bf 110s (also twin-finned) and vice versa. So it could have been almost anything, but I'd love to see this mystery solved: it's been bugging me for years.

The “Arado” issue is a product of confusing this episode with one that occurred on February 8th in which a different pilot in a different Whirlwind allegedly shot down an aircraft that might have been an Ar 196 and was himself allegedly shot down by it. Although the Squadron ORB records the story this way, as do recent accounts, the other pilot involved in the sortie identified the enemy aircraft not as an Ar 196, but as an He 115. Another mystery.

NiallC