21/4/45 Banff Wing

[Jim Oxley]

The Mosquito's were from 42 Banff Wing, consisting of 16 from 143 Squadron, 11 from 235, 11 from 248 and 4 from 333, escorted by 24 Mustangs. Leader of the strike force was Wing Commander Foxley-North.

They had just completed an unsuccessful sweep of the Kattegut due to bad weather and had turned for home. The Mustangs at 1950 hours obtained permission from Wing Commander Foxley-North to go on ahead as they were having a party at base that night.

In bad weather, with rain, a cloud base at 600ft and poor visibility limited to 200 feet, the Mosquito pilots suddenly saw a large force of aircraft emerge out of the cloud and rain on a reciprocal couse at 2030 hours. There were 18 aircraft in six Vics of three in line astern, 150 miles off the Scottish coast. Seconds later there were shouts of Junkers over the RT.

The two KG26 staffels involved were deployed from Bardufoss in northern Norway to Stavanger-Sola, which was the German airfield in Norway closest to Scotland.Around 1800 hours 6/KG26 of II Gruppe with nine Ju88A-17's led by Staffelkapitan Oberleutnant Friedrich Ebert took off, followed by the 7/KG26 III Gruppe, with nine Ju188A-3's led by Staffelkapitan Hauptmann Fritz Gehring. The mission was to conduct a reconnaissance sweep of the north east Scottish coast.

In the ensuring one sided fight 28 men lost their lives. Nine Ju88's were shot down. No Ju188's were destroyed, although several were damaged. Claims were lodged by Wing Commander Foxley-North x 2, Flight Lt. Keohane x 1, Squadron Leader Alec Gunnis x 2, Squadron Leader John Barry x 1, Warrant Officer Coggie Cogswell x 1, Flight Lt. Ron Haskins x 1 and Flying Officer David Clark x 1. Several other claims were made by various pilots for probables.

The above is a very abridged version of events from a fantastic book titled "A Seperate Little War, The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus The Kreigsmarine And The Luftwaffe 1944-45", by Andrew Bird. A very good read.