Re: German losses 02-03 April 1942 - Evreux airfield

[Danny152]

Hiya all,

I plea, as always. Was a Do215 shot down on the earlier hours of the 03 Apr 1942 at Evreux airfield, Northern France. There was a Luftwaffe group preparing to take off from the airfield and one of these was damaged, well claimed ..... and there may be a second damaged.

Any help, ID, unit etc would be a great help!

Cheers

Danny

[Chris Goss]

Danny: Sorry to disappoint again but the Do 215 was not being used as a bomber especially in the west. The Do 17 had been replaced by the Do 217 with KG 2 and II./KG 40 being the units with this type but were based in Holland, forward basing in France. Neither unit lost any aircraft or reported being attacked, the targets that night being Portland/Weymouth and Dover. 9./KG 40 did lose a He 111 but to 604 Sqn off Portland

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Just for curiosity: Could this claim may have been misidentified, being probably a Bf 110 or a Potez 63 from a training unit on a NAVEX? Is there any loss for this kind of machine that night?

However, by the time-frame period (early April 1942), Évreux was being "used" by the Stab of KG 55. So, perhaps a "damaged" He 111 can be found on LW Summary reports entries?

A.

[Danny152]

Thanks guys, this what I have written in regards to Hoare.

Returning to base, he took his lone Intruder back over the airfield at Evreux. Here, he saw a number of enemy aircraft preparing to land with their landing lights on, all these aircraft soon turned them off. Orbiting the airfield, Bertie, flew at 4 of these, without results. However, he soon closed into what he believed was a Do215 that had just taken off. He ordered his crew to fire at the opportunity target, ranging from 200 yards to 70 yards from his intended prey. He had to call off the attack when a enemy searchlight blinded him. Immediately above him another enemy aircraft was spotted. Again, ordering his crew to fire a 3- second burst which came from his gunner, this hitting the intended target, the enemy aircraft immediately dousing its lights and turning to port.

This might add something, maybe.

Cheers

Danny