Luftwaffe crash, 18th of May 1940, Belgium

[Peter T]

In May 1996, I met Kurt Leythauser. He gave me the following account of the crash.

“ We took off from Gütersloh around 04.00 p.m. for a raid against the railroadjunction in Fenain (France). On the way back we were attacked by Hurricanes in the Brussels area. My “Staffel” split up and I continued with my “Kette”. Shortly afterwards the Hurricanes renewed the attack. They concentrated their fire on my HN. The plane was badly hit and it was almost impossible to keep it in hand. My “Bordfunker”, Uffz. Oskar Noetzelmann was hit and died almost immediately. The “Bordmechaniker” Ofw. Karl Schorr was also badly hit, but was still alive. We were losing height fast and I decided to make a bellylanding in a field near Louvain. All went well. The observer and I were only slightly wounded and we managed to climb out of the wreck. We also evacuated our comrade Schorr, who was still alive. The Hurricanes continued to shoot on the plane, and we were forced to hide with our wounded friend in a small wood. There we met to our surprise German troops. They took us to a first aid post and gave us a car. Ofw. Schorr was in very bad shape. We could not transport him and he died soon afterwards.”