Heinkel III IG+HL. Crashed Eire 3.3.41

[Tony Kearns]

Originally Posted by avoigt

Tony, have checked as best I can on the loss on 10th Feb. There is mention of a plane crashing into a wooden building on return in bad fog, killing all crew and those sleeping in the building at Tours sometime in Jan/Feb. This may be the plane Hengst was talking about as it is unlikely that such damage to a plane would allow it to be repaired for flight in mid Feb. to Brest. There seems to be more than a few differences in accounts given by Voigt & Hengst which are causing me extra work!

Arthur
The landing accident that I was referring to did not involve loss of life or injury but from the description of the incident certainly suggested that the aircraft was a write off. I agree that there are more than a few differences in the accounts given by your Dad and Rudi Hengst. I will check my notes further, one thing I have difficulty in resolving is the date when the crew which landed in Ireland actually came together as a crew
Regards
Tony K

[avoigt]

Tony , the new crew was put together at Xmas 1940. The Captain decided to mix some old hands with the newcomers. Alfred Heinzel (pilot) was new to the staffel. Voigt, Hengst and Rister were all of kg 27 but had not flown together before. This crew was together during the battle of Britain. When they were transferred to Brest the rear gunner Max Galler was added to the crew as the compliment was increased from 4 to 5 to provide more firepower. During that fateful day on 3rd Mar 41 Gerd Rister (mechanic) went to the rear of the plane to fix Galler's machine gun which had jammed and subsequently suffered 2 fatal gunshot wounds in the back during the second attack on the ship.

[Tony Kearns]

Thank you Arthur for that, I know that Freddie Heinzel made his firrst mission on 21 December 1940 to Liverpool. From what you say this appears to be the date the crew came together.
Regards
Tony K