'Blackie & Kirk' 406 Sqdn RCAF

[hrossm]

Sqdn. Ldr. D.J. "Blackie" Williams was twice involved in claims for 2 victories in one day, the first on 29/30th April 1944 flying a Mosquito XII coded HU.O (serial not known, SOME possible candidates are HK138, HK179, HK228, HK231) when he destroyed two Do217Ks attempting to attack Devonport with Fritz-X guided bombs and the second on 21st July 1944 flying Mosquito XXX serial MM731 (code unknown but I wonder if it was 'S' as RCAF Squadrons lists MM751 as 'S' in 406 Sqdn but the Air Briitain serials book MA100-MZ999 does not show MM751 as being issued to a squadron and 3 vs 5 is an obvious opportunity for the dreaded misprint). Again the victims were Do217s. On both occasions C.J. "Kirk" Kirkpatrick was his navigator and the squadron was based at Winkleigh in Devon.
There is a photo in the Osprey Mosquito fighter/fighter bomber squadrons book that shows an aircraft with 'Blackie and Kirk' nose art which appears to be a XII (single stage Merlin) but the photo is not dated so I don't know if this was applied to the a/c used on the above occasions.

Please can anyone add to the code/serial/nose art information above for either the XII or XXX ?

[Chris Goss]

Where is your source the Do 217s were attacking or about to attack Devonport as this differs to what the survivors said?

[brewerjerry]

Hi
I have my main notes still packed, but I thought target for the fritz X's was the KGV battleship in / moored near devonport dockyard at the time.
Apparently it is the only time the UK was/has been attacked by a guided missile.
cheers
Jerry

[Chris Goss]

Ah-III/KG 100 were involved in an attack on Plymouth 29-30 Apr 44 and did lose 2 Do 217s. However, although the KG 2 books says Fritz X was used, I cannot see anything in th Appendices of the KG 100 book (probably because no German claims were made?)

[hrossm]

Jerry Brewer's book on Harrowbeer was my source for the Fritz X incident (& a cross check HMS Howe was in Devonport). I'd be very interested in what the surviviors did say they were up to.

Also I have the identities of the Fritz X Do217s (6N+AD was from Stab.111/KG100 and 6N+IT was from 9/KG100) but I have no positive information on colours for the aircraft (70/71 or 72/73) or the aircraft code letter (A & I). Other letters were black and the 6N would have been smaller than the AD or IT as far as I know.

As well as the two Mosquitos (when I know their full identities) I would like to model one of the Fritz X Do217s - as Jerry says they are very interesting, especially as I live within sight of Whitsand Bay which is one of the crash sites - and HMS Howe with a map of the area as a display base.

[brewerjerry]

Hi,
Pretty sure my first info came from :-
Price, Alfred

BLITZ ON BRITAIN - THE BOMBER ATTACKS ON THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1939-1945

&
It Came to Our Door: Plymouth in World War II ( nice photo of the JU-88 at burrator )

by H.P TWYFORD


then from :-

Aircraft Modelworld Vol 1 No 9 November 1984
Article :- Aircraft modelling - Dornier's missile carrier - Do-217K-2 - scale, great little article on building the a/c.

There is a file in the NA /PRO ( air 22 or the air 40 dornier file, maybe even in an avia ?) the file used to have a photo of the tail cone /guns, but the photo had disappeared by the 80's, when I looked at it again.
and something in the cornish record office and maybe taunton record office.

maybe something in the profile dornier 217 book.

The whitsand bay a/c was stilll to be seen in the early 70's, a/c approaching roborough ccasionally reported seeing a twin engined a/c upside down in the sea, and it appears from research it was probably the dornier.
( the other posible candidate was a wellington, but apparently it made it to the beach in '41 ? and the JU-88 apparantly went down further out.)

The above is from memory tho' as my notes are still packed.

reference to the attack here
by Obgfr. Gerds
http://www.ghostbombers.com/dragoon/before-2.html

You are right it is the Howe,she was in devonport from January-May 1944, (KGV ws in liverpool until july).


Whilst on the subject of the raid,
a SKG10 Fw-190 was supposedly lost anyone know how and where ?


cheers
Jerry


P.S.
Just found a jpeg copy of the crash report on my hard drive.

extract from the Ai2(g) report :-



6N+IT , 'I' yellow, 'T' black.

camouflage.
Apparently intended for aircraft operating over the sea,the undersurfaces being sky blue and the fuselage and top surfaces being a very light blue with light green wavy lines superimposed.




It does not mention smaller code letters,so presumably they were all the same size ?
Jerry

[hrossm]

Many thanks for the information Jerry - there are some keen divers just down the road from me and I'll ask them if they know anything about the Dornier.

Getting off topic but useful for my "diorama" is a colour photo of Howe as she would have been at the end of her refit in Devonport:

http://www.ww2incolor.com/britain/HM...al_1944&full=1

I'm sure there's a better version of the same photo somewhere else on the web. I believe she was repainted in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on the way to join the BPF.

[brewerjerry]

Originally Posted by hrossm

Many thanks for the information Jerry - there are some keen divers just down the road from me and I'll ask them if they know anything about the Dornier.......

Hi
Apparently it was outside of the 'dumping zone', so safe to dive.
Ask them if they know about the 109 in cawsand bay, it went in close to shore, but deepish, shot down whilst attacking a cruiser or destroyer, apparently a nice dive.
Can't recall exact details, but could have been 16 or 18 may 42,
109F 'blue 8' JG 2 ?
If i get time I will try to find & unpack my file on the dorniers, It's somewhere in the garage.....
Cheers
Jerry

[Chris Goss]

The Bf 109 F-4 in Cawsand Bay was 16 May 42 Wk Nr 13014 Blue 2 of 10/JG 2 shot down by HMS Cleveland and HMS Brocklesby 1252 hrs killing Lt Hans-Joachim Schulz. There were 2 FW 190s lost 29 Mar 44-Lt Herbert Moeller missing whilst Ofw Hans Lueders baled out 50 kms west of Dinard but his parachute failed to open. Both were 3/SKG 10. Still trying to find the evidence that these Do 217s were carrying Fritz X as the K Reports do not confirm one way or the other apart from this unit operated Fritz X???

[hrossm]

Originally Posted by brewerjerry

Hi
Apparently it was outside of the 'dumping zone', so safe to dive.
Ask them if they know about the 109 in cawsand bay, it went in close to shore, but deepish, shot down whilst attacking a cruiser or destroyer, apparently a nice dive.
Can't recall exact details, but could have been 16 or 18 may 42,
109F 'blue 8' JG 2 ?
If i get time I will try to find & unpack my file on the dorniers, It's somewhere in the garage.....
Cheers
Jerry

Divers information not very relevant (they have been in Looe Divers for around 20 years)......

The only crash sites that I have heard of in the area, are those of two
Lancaster bombers, one off the breakwater and the one off Millendreath.

Bill (another resident) told
me he saw the Millendreath plane actually crash. He said the plane was so
badly damaged that the pilot knew he couldn't land. He had the crew bail out
over land, turned the plane around so that it was heading out to sea, and then
bailed out himself. The plane decided to turn around of its own accord and
started heading back to shore. It finally crashed 150M short of the beach.

The other wreck is off the western end of the breakwater. There's more info
if you follow the link below.

_http://www.submerged.co.uk/breakwater-lancaster.php_
(http://www.submerged.co.uk/breakwater-lancaster.php)

I have dived both sites, many years go, but did not find anything, despite
what the article above says. Mind you there are no specific marks, just a vague
idea of where they are. Also there may not be a lot to find, because of
their age and construction (materials), the nature of their demise and the depth
that they are in (shallow, open to elements in particular wave action).
I'll ask them more when I get home (working in Austria this and next week) but it seems they haven't heard of the Do217 or Bf109. If nothing else it may give them a project to find them.

In the meantime if anyone knows more about the Mosquitoes that started me off (completion of identities, confirmation of nose art ) please can they let me know,
Thanks,
Ross