Ju88 loss, 25 May 1941?

[bill norman]

Does anyone have record of the loss of a German aircraft (probably Ju88)off the NE coast between Hull and Newcastle at around midnight 25 May 1941? If so, any indication of unit and/or cause of loss?

[Chris Goss]

24-25 and 25-26 May nil

[Dave Wadman]

Could it be A-4 W.Nr.738 of the 1./506?

Dave

[Dave Wadman]

Should have added that according to the info which I have here the a/c is shown as FTR on 26 May, one crew member KIA the remaining three listed as MIA.

[bill norman]

Chris, thanks for looking. Dave - it definitely could be! I have 1./506, with Oblt Löhr as FF. Do you have a precise location and/or cause?

[Dave Wadman]

Crew listed as follows:

Oblt. J.Loehr MIA
Oblt. F.Pohl MIA
Ogfr. W.Nimwegen MIA
Uffz.H.Biesterfeld KIA (body washed ashore and buried at Great Bircham on 29 June).

Cause & exact location (other than N.Sea off Norfolk coast) not specified.

This info can also be found in Peter Cornwell's listings in The Blitz - Then & Now vol.3 on p.35

Dave

[Chris Goss]

German records would indicate this would be 26-27 May?

[Dave Wadman]

Hi Chris,

Correct - my mistake, I neglected to identify the date as the 26th and not the 25th.

Cheers

Dave

[bill norman]

The ./506 KTB gives 25/26 May: Löhr should have returned in the early hours of 26 May - but didn't. His task was to patrol Newcastle-Whitby, which makes me wonder whether the Ju88 did crash off the Norfolk coast. There is the likelihood that Uffz H. Biesterfeld, listed in Blitz vol.3 p35 and in the IWGC list of German War Graves in the UK as being buried in St Mary's churchyard, Great Bircham, Norfolk, was a member of Löhr's crew - though the KTB gives Uffz Paul Biesterfeld. If they are one and the same, and given that Biesterfeld was buried under the date 29 June 1941, I suspect that Biesterfeld's corpse had been at sea for some time and had drifted south to the point where it was eventually found.