Help with RAF patrol on Calais 26 May 1940

[biltongbru]

In an interview with a stuka pilot recently he claimed that they were attacked by RAF Spitfires while diving on targets in Calais 26 May 1940 and that the Spitfires joined in the dive in an attempt to shoot the stukas down but some of the spitfires could not pull out of the dive and crashed to the ground. Please see conversation below on the Axis forum.

Is it possible that someone can maybe help to see if the reports from the RAF match with the account of the stuka pilot Heinz Migeod?

1) Were there any British patrols on that day to Calais?
2) If so what time was this patrol in Calais?
2) If so what kind of aircraft; Spitfires or Hurricanes?
3) If so, did they report sightings of Ju-87's in the Calais region?
4) Did they experience any losses that day?

Originally Posted by Thomas H

Thank you very much for this upload, very interesting!

Smart order by his commander. Maybe someone here can put a date to this event and conform the number of Spitfires lost in this encounter.

3) Stuka targets in France
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Rv63_X7jY

Best regards,

Thomas

Originally Posted by biltongbru

Thanks for the complement.

I asked Heinz today about this mission and he said again it happened when they flew a mission to Calais.

I had a look in his Flugbuch and found that he flew this mission on 26 May 1940 on Calais "Zitadelle" whatever that means. They took off at 8:40 and landed at 10:30. So I presume they should have been in Calais at about 9:30 in the morning.



If one can maybe establish from the Allied point of view the following:

1) Were there any British patrols on that day to Calais?
2) If so what time was this patrol in Calais?
2) If so what kind of aircraft; Spitfires or Hurricanes?
3) If so, did they report sightings of Ju-87's in the Calais region?
4) Did they experience any losses that day?

I think that it will not be easily reported that one of your own aircraft accidently dove into the ground but maybe just reported as missing (I could be totally wrong here)

We all know today that squadron reports were always a bit exaggerated from both sides: 4 enemy planes downed can easily be 1 or 2 , we must not forget that.

I have no experience to trace the whereabouts of the RAF squadrons on that particular day but I am sure someone in the forum has the resources to get this information?

[arnaud]

12 Spitifre from No. 65 Squadron attacked 30 Henschel 126 (read Stukas), and Bf 109 and Bf 110 : take off time 8.18 landing time : 10.09 : 3 Bf 109, 2 Bf 110, 1 Henschel 126 confirmed, 5 Bf 109 unconfirmed. Mission Calais - Dunkerque.

The citadelle at Calais is very famous for dig combat.

I know this German pilot... If you have his unit, it would be interesting. I don't want to research in my archive to find that information : too long...

(German time is one hour less that British time so German mission is 7.40 - 9.30 british time)

One solution ? Wait and see...

[biltongbru]

Originally Posted by arnaud

12 Spitifre from No. 65 Squadron attacked 30 Henschel 126 (read Stukas), and Bf 109 and Bf 110 : take off time 8.18 landing time : 10.09 : 3 Bf 109, 2 Bf 110, 1 Henschel 126 confirmed, 5 Bf 109 unconfirmed. Mission Calais - Dunkerque.

The citadelle at Calais is very famous for dig combat.

I know this German pilot... If you have his unit, it would be interesting. I don't want to research in my archive to find that information : too long...

(German time is one hour less that British time so German mission is 7.40 - 9.30 british time)

One solution ? Wait and see...

Thanks very much so far. The German pilot is Heinz Migeod and lives close to me. He was in I/St.G.76. All his info on this site:

http://www.heinzmigeod.com/chronology.php

The question is if there is evidence that some British Spitfires crashed while diving after the stukas as Heinz told me in an interview.

thanks again

Tinus

[arnaud]

Pilot Officer Kenneth Hart landed on Calais beach... He returned to England on May 28.

This is a huge combat with Spitfires, Bf 109s, Bf 110s and Stukas...

Leutnant Paul Temme's testimony (Stab I./JG 2) :
"Les Stuka attaquent la citadelle de Calais et la navigation maritime au large. Je suis en couverture avec la deuxième escadrille, soit à deux cent vingt kilomètres de Signy ! Il ne reste plus beaucoup de temps pour le combat quand nous arrivons sur zone (…)." (sorry it is in French).