Wellington encounter 18 February 1941

[FrankieS]

Hi Brian !
Maybe this one: source: http://www.newmarketlhs.org.uk/nlhscorrespondence.htm


September 11th 2002. The bombing of Newmarket on 18th February 1941 is etched in the memory of many of the older residents of the town and is well recorded in the Society's book 'One Afternoon in February'.
Not generally known is that the Dornier 17Z bomber which caused such loss of life and damage may not have made it back to its base in occupied Europe. The crew of a Wellington bomber from No 99 Squadron taking off from the airfield on Newmarket Heath at the time of the bombing and heading in a south-easterly direction saw the clouds of smoke ahead. They then sighted the Dornier and managed to fly alongside. The pilot ordered the front and rear turret gunners to open fire and they got in some good bursts before the Dornier disappeared into cloud. When the Wellington returned to base the pilot was later informed by his Flight Commander (Sq/Leader J.B. Black) that an army Ack ack unit had reported a Dornier downed near Thetford. He said that the Wellington crew should be credited with half the 'kill'.
How do we know this? The pilot of the Wellington who left the R.A.F. as Group Captain Goodman has a very clear memory of the events and has recently recounted them to us. He is President of the 99 Squadron Association and hoped to visit Newmarket on their recent reunion, but was prevented by ill health.
Unfortunately no official records of the Dornier crashing have been uncovered, so its fate remains a mystery but there is no doubt that it was fired on by the Wellington and probably hit.
At the entrance to the Rowley Mile enclosure is a propeller blade from Wellington T 2888 R-Robert mounted as a memorial to 99 Squadron. This was Group Captain Goodman's aircraft but luckily for him he was not flying it when it crashed near Wisbech in February 1941 as he was on leave at the time. Nor was it the Wellington involved in the Dornier incident.
1st October - An e-mail from Tony Wickham whose father 'Bob' Wickham (now deceased) was front gunner in the Wellington. His story completely confirms 'Benny' Goodman's account and adds more interesting details to this fascinating sequel to the 1941 bombing raid