Liner 'City of Brisbane' bombed 2 August 1940

[BrianC]

Hi guy

The liner City of Brisbane was bombed and severely damaged off Margate by Ju87s on 2 August 1940; with 9 killed, she was set on fire and beached on South Long Sand, where the remaining 90 persons on board were rescued.

On 17 or 18 August the wreck was again bombed (by Ju87s?) and (quote) "when the Royal Navy inspected her they found a wrecked German aircraft on board." (see The Battle of the East Coast J.P. Foynes). Presumably the remains of a Ju87?

Any additional information available, please?

Cheers
Brian

[Chris Goss]

Sorry but sounds like another urban myth. No Stuka ops on 17 August and those on 18 August would have been against airfields or radar stations further west

[VtwinVince]

Not sure why Stukas would be sent to bomb an already-destroyed target?

[Chris Goss]

Furthermore, it appears that Erprobungsgruppe 210 were responsible for damaging a ship off Margate with 3 SC250 bombs on this date, not Ju 87s and no Bf 110s or Bf 109s from this unit were lost

[James A Pratt III]

I would like to point out plane ID was poor.

Having seen a plane ID guide from the late 1930s trying to ID an aircraft from that in 1940 is sort of difficult to put it mildly.

The follow up raid was because some one decided the ship may be salvageable and ordered it bombed again

[Chris Goss]

We all agree that aircraft identification was not 100% but the question was about a German aircraft crashing onto the ship for which there is no evidence