Ju 88 crashes onto houses in Richmond Avenue, Merton 20th September 1940

[Westside Dad]

My father was living in number 2 or 4 Richmond Avenue, Merton in September 1940. It is reported that a Ju 88 was brought down by AA fire, losing its tail and crashing into his house on Richmond Avenue just after midnight on the 20th of September 1940.

Fortunately for me the two families were in their Anderson shelters and survived the crash. All but one of the crew was killed. He parachuted over Clapham and was captured after landing on a house.

I would be grateful for any information on the raid, individual plane, squadron, crew members etc that any members may have.

I would imagine that crashing onto a house within greater London was an unusual event, particularly as it was claimed as being downed by AA fire!

[RudiS]

Hi,

It was Junkers Ju 88 A-1 WNr 4148 coded B3+HM that belonged to 4./KG54. Target was London. The crew were:
FF Ofw Max Röhrig KIA
BO Fw Hermann Fischer KIA
BF Gefr Kurt Neumann KIA
BS Fw Wilhelm Schlake POW

The remains of the crew could not be identified.

Regards,
Rudi.

[Nick Beale]

It's worth Googling crashes in British cities, there's often a local historian or newspaper that has something, in this case a photo of the damage, although no details of the aircraft:
http://photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/co.../streets/29043

[Bruce Dennis]

The library in Morden, just down the road from the scens of your crash, has microfilm records of the local newspapers.

[Larry Hickey]

Westside Dad,

According to the EoE Loss Listing DB:

20 September 1940: 4./KG54 Junkers Ju88A-1 (4148). Lost control during night sortie over south-west London and abandoned over Merton; crashed and exploded on Nos. 2 and 4 Richmond Avenue 00.20 a.m. BS Fw Wilhelm Schlake baled out and captured slightly wounded, FF Oberfw Max Röhrig, BO Fw Hermann Fischer, and BF Gefr Kurt Neumann all missing. Aircraft B3+HM 100% write-off.
This aircraft blew up with such violence that the three crewmen aboard were blown to pieces and what little of them was recovered buried together in Garth Road Cemetery at Lower Morden."

We have four photos of the site of this crash in our photo DB, including the referenced one above.

[Bruce Dennis]

Westside Dad,
Having reread your original post, I see that you are uncertain in which of the two addresses your father lived. Again, the Morden library has (had?) a Kellys Directory for the area which will probably have the answer.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

[John Vasco]

Two photos of the crash are in 'Luftwaffe Crash Archive', Volume 4, pages 466-467.

[Joe Potter]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Westside Dad,

According to the EoE Loss Listing DB:

20 September 1940: 4./KG54 Junkers Ju88A-1 (4148). Lost control during night sortie over south-west London and abandoned over Merton; crashed and exploded on Nos. 2 and 4 Richmond Avenue 00.20 a.m. BS Fw Wilhelm Schlake baled out and captured slightly wounded, FF Oberfw Max Röhrig, BO Fw Hermann Fischer, and BF Gefr Kurt Neumann all missing. Aircraft B3+HM 100% write-off.
This aircraft blew up with such violence that the three crewmen aboard were blown to pieces and what little of them was recovered buried together in Garth Road Cemetery at Lower Morden."

We have four photos of the site of this crash in our photo DB, including the referenced one above.

Garth Road Cemetery did not open until 1947, and there is no record of any such burial in any of the other Cemeteries in that area.

[Peter Cornwell]

Not so Joe as the attached scans attest. Despite the ghastly sifting of the site that went on for several days, it seems that not enough was recovered to constitute sufficient human remains to justify a full burial.

[Westside Dad]

All,

Thank you so very much for all your information. Particularly Peter for the scanned documents.

This was such an important event for my family, as it could have brought it to a close. It has been quite emotional reading through these posts. I can now even consider visiting where the pilots remains were interned which is something I didn't think possible.

Thank you all again!!!

P.S I don't suppose that anyone knows of any photographs of B3 HM?