Shot Down Whitley

[kaki3152]

Here is a picture of a shot down A.W. Whitley on a beach. The number "329" or something similar is just visible.

Can anyone identify?

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello

As the last two digits are 24 or perhaps 29, my database gives the following options:

N1424 58 GE-P 11/12-7-1940 Berchem, Flak Deurne, 5 KIA
Z6624 10 ZA-O 25/26-7-1941 Northsea, 3 KIA, 2 MIA, NJ
Z6629 161 MA-N 22/23-11-1942 sea, 4 KIA, 2 MIA
Z6729 58 GE-T 16/17-8-1941 Breda, 5 POW, NJ
Z6824 77 KN- 6/7-9-1941 ZO Borculo, 4 KIA, 1 POW, NJ
Z6829 102 DY- 14/15-8-1941 WZW Terschelling, 4 KIA, 2 POW
Z9424 51 MH-R 15/16-1-1942 Rottevalle, 3 KIA, 3 POW, NJ

As the wreckage lays in the muddy waters, it makes no sense that crewmembers got MIA. Under these precononly N6829 is the most likely candidate.

All the best, Marcel

[PMoz99]

I agree with Marcel - when magnified significantly to me it looks like 324.
Marcel - did you mean Z6829?
But - the real reason for my post - may I ask what the marking on the base of the rudder fin is? I know very little about Whitleys, but the photos I've seen usually show the RAF fin flash in that location. This looks more like a B or an 8. Is it deterioration causing confusion or perhaps a hint to the a/c identity?

Peter

[Alex Smart]

How about Z6824 ?

[kaki3152]

This photo was first in "Nachtjagd" by Theo Boiten. The caption reads:Burnt out wreck odf a Whitley which was shot down by Marine flak unit at Juist.

Juist (German pronun*cia*tion: [ˈjyːst]) is an island and municipality in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony in Germany. The island is one of seven inhabited East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea. It is located between Borkum Island (west), Memmert Island (southwest) and Norderney (east)

[Theo Boiten]

Dear all,

I originally got the photo from a Kriegsmarine man in the 1980s. I have now identified the Whitley as follows (full details will be published in the new series of books with Wing Leader Publishing):

28-29 November 1940
-78 Sqn Whitley P5026: hit by 3./lei. Res. Flak Abt. 767 (Flakgruppe Ostfriesland) and by Flak of M. Flak Abt. 226 (Nordeney), force-landed on western edge of Juist Island at 22.46 hrs.

Cheers, Theo

[MW Giles]

But - the real reason for my post - may I ask what the marking on the base of the rudder fin is? I know very little about Whitleys, but the photos I've seen usually show the RAF fin flash in that location. This looks more like a B or an 8. Is it deterioration causing confusion or perhaps a hint to the a/c identity?


Someone with a knife has cut out the canvass fin flash as a souvenir, you can see the wing structure through the hole

Martin

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Alex,

Z6824 crashed near Borculo and there are no shallow waters or beaches near that location in the Netherlands.

What appears to be a letter B on the tail is most likely the metal structure of that tail, because usualy there should be a tricolor (blue, white, red) on that spot. Apparantly that piece of canvas was stripped to become a trophy.

I can't prove it but Z6829 still seems to me the best option.

All the best, Marcel

[Theo Boiten]

Hi Marcel,

Z6829 does not fit; I have the following Abschussmeldung (14/15.8.41), according to Gildner's elaborate combat report the Whitley exploded on impact (literal translated quote 'I watched it crashing on land, followed by a big explosion where the burning machine could be seen for some time'), whereas the Whitley in the photo was apparently force-landed and then burnt out.

Ofw. Paul Gildner: 18 4./NJG1 Whitley V Terschelling Island, at km. mark 22.5 (Löwe): 2.500 m. 04.43 102 Sqn Whitley Z6829

Cheers, Theo

[Kutscha]

Martin what you think is a 9 or B is part of the vertical stab construction.