Ju 88 dam by unknown 25 Sqn-pilot 21/22 Oct 1940

[phasselgren]

Hi,

In RAF Command Victory Claims of WW2 by John Foreman there is a claim by 25 Squadron on the night 21/22 October 1940. One Ju 88 damaged NW Dungeness at 17.55 hours by an unknown Blenheim pilot.

The ORB of 25 Squadron has information about three patrols but none were flying at 17.55 on the 21th.

Sgt Holloway, with Sgt Pye and AC Cottam - Up 18.35 Down 19.20
Sgt Smith with Sgt Barrett and AC Comptom - Up 20.50 Down 22.00
F/O Howe with Sgt Bennison and Lynch – Up 19.25 Down 20.10

No operations on the 22th. Form 540 has no operational information for this month.

Can anyone solve this mystery?

Thanks in advance,
Peter

[Peter Cornwell]

Peter,

The only mystery here is the original source of John Foreman's information. As you say, there is nothing in the ORB to support this claim which I suspect may be a simple transcription error of some sort.

[phasselgren]

Peter,

Thanks for the reply.

You are probably right but when looking at other months I see that the ORB is not 100% complete and therefore it would be good to get information from another source.

If this is a real claim it will be interesting for me if any of the two New Zealand air gunners Sgt Bennison or Sgt Pye were involved.

Peter