That Heinkel over London photo...

[Chris Going]

Some years ago I wrote a short piece on one of the most famous photographs taken in the Battle of Britain period. It’s the Heinkel above the Isle of Dogs. Most people know it, or have seen it. I believe the person who took it was an Uffz Loark, then of KG 1, possibly Stab KG 1. There are some reasons for believing he survived the war, and emigrated to the USA. I want to return to the note I wrote in 2014 and update it a little. I would love to know, having not tried to track down the fate of individual personnel much, whether anyone can help me shed more light on the service career of this person.

Thanks in anticipation,

ChrisG

[Nick Beale]

Possibly of interest: a discussion of the photo on Brett Holman's "Airminded" site continued over several years: https://airminded.org/?s=Millwall

A lot seemed to depend on the exact date that a stand at the Millwall ground was built.

[Chris Going]

Nick, Hi

Thanks for that. It was because of the Millwall claim -and the Brett Holman note on Airminded that I wrote the piece. It's in the Medmenham Club Newsletter for the Spring of 2014 pp 37-9. As that's impossible to get hold of, I'm redoing it more accessibly.

Best

ChrisG

[Chris Goss]

Nobody with the name Loark received any major award while the VDK site shows nobody with that name being killed. The quality of the photo might indicate it was taken by a war reporter rather than a normal crew member

[Chris Going]

That's very useful information, Chris, and thank you. I did wonder whether there was a rogue 'c' in the mix and his name was Loarck, but think it's Loark.

I had also wondered whether it was a shot taken by a Kriegsberichter, but our snap is in fact print 075 of a film (taken on an Rb 21/18 camera) once indexed as Stabia Lfl 2 F0822/40. At midday on the 7th the Stabia Lfl 2's Film Kennung index stood at 817, and I've seen prints from F0823 also.

You have opened up an interesting line of attack, however. I have seen images of the London assault reproduced in 'Der Adler' and in 'Life' magazine, undoubtedly distributed by the Luftwaffe, but these are from 'Senkrecht' area collectors; theres nothing I can attribute to an individual photographer, and that is a surprise.

More anon

ChrisG

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Chris Going

That's very useful information, Chris, and thank you. I did wonder whether there was a rogue 'c' in the mix and his name was Loarck, but think it's Loark.

ChrisG

According to this site there's nobody with the name (either spelling) living in Germany.

[Chris Going]

Thanks for that effort, everyone. I appreciate it. Loark seems to be a very rare and unusual surname. Currently I can (only) trace it to the Shetlands in the 1880s, so perhaps we are looking at emigration to Germany. I have a possible candidate, born in 1919, and a remark made long ago to a friend (now dead) from someone who said if he’d had a pound each time the image was published he’d be rich. Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe.

Best

ChrisG