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Old 5th February 2018, 16:21
William Beedie William Beedie is offline
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HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

On finding this forum, I had found this plane in an archived area, Chris Goss seemed to know a fair bit about it, this is the story of my grandmother as told to my uncle and to any who would listen to her.

Archive link http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=47247
"Moonlight mellowed that warped scene. Stavanger Aerodrome beamed in it, and on runways, cockpits stood out like luminous dials. One cockpit moved … a Heinkel 115 was lifting its nose up in the diluted darkness towards North-East Scotland"… So ran the heading in the Aberdeen "Press and Journal" of February 13th. 1959, in a story describing the crash-landing of a German Bomber plane on a north-east of Scotland farm 19 years earlier during the Battle of Britain, 1940.

The farm was `Windyhead`, situated on a hilly plateau in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, just outside the ancient village of New Aberdour where St. Columba and St. Drostan his companion first landed when they brought the Gospel to the North-East shoulder of Scotland 1400 years earlier, and indeed the very village where St. Drostan, that great Evangel-Saint was buried in the 6th. Century.

The farmer, my father, James (Jimmy) Beedie was sitting, relaxing at home with his cousin Donald Watson when they heard the strange, roaring sound of an aircraft engine as it passed overhead. They rushed to the door, but from the dreich, damp, foggy sky above them, they heard no more. "It must have passed over," said Jimmy to his cousin, so back inside they went, to continue their relaxation over a coffee.

Jimmy`s housekeeper, Agnes Kindness Marr had been down in the village visiting her mother, Mary, and was on her way back to the farm when she too heard the rasping sound of the Heinkel Bomber in the stillness of the night. This was Sunday evening, September 15th 1940, two hours before midnight, and that day BBC Radio had reported that the R.A.F. had shot down 185 Luftwaffe planes over London. Jimmy and Donald had been listening to the BBC report on their Marconi Radio unaware that before the night was over they too would be caught up in their own `Battle of Britain experience` at the farm.
The Bomber, a Heinkel 115 8L+GH Seaplane with 2 floats, like torpedoes, had set off from Stavanger in Nazi-Occupied Norway, across the North Sea from north-east Scotland, and had in its belly, high explosive bombs and aerial depth-charges and was on its maiden voyage. its mission was to bomb and depth-charge Moray Firth shipping. The Pilot, peering out of his cockpit window and trying to make sense of where he was, had because of sea-fog, crossed the shoreline unknowingly, and was unaware that he was now over Scottish farm-land.The Bomber`s crew, Ltz. S. Hans-Otto Aldus, Hpt. Heinreiche Kothe and Uffz. H. Meissner were not to know that what they took to be the waves of the sea not far beneath them, was in fact Jimmy Beedie`s fields of corn waving in an autumn moonlight that struggled to break through the foggy skies.

Agnes Marr was by now nearly home to Windyhead`s Farm when she heard what she later described as a "strangulated sound like an overloaded coal lorry straining to climb the steep hill in the Den of Auchmedden" Next moment she heard a `most awful thud` and the terrifying sounds of metal ripping and tearing apart...and then ...absolute silence. She knew a `tragedy had happened`. She reached the farmhouse and, almost breathless after running, called to her employer and his cousin, "I`m sure it`s down, quick, grab a lantern and we`ll go and look for it, it can`t be far away."

The men argued that the plane had come down in the howe further away, and weren`t too keen on going out to find it, but Agnes insisted that it had come done in the nearby corn-field, and if they weren`t going she would `go by herself`, and as she fetched the lantern and made for the door, Jimmy and Donald followed her out into the darkness.

She was right, it had gouged a long deep gully in the wet earth of the turnip field nearby. Quarter of a mile, precisely, in a field of corn, after rutting the turnip field, bouncing into a wall - which sent its floats flying and one of its engines skiing off at a tangent - the plane, having rumbled on for another 100 yards or so through the field of corn, had come to a final halt having embedded its nose in the soft, fertile, north-east soil.

The three German airmen tried to make their escape from the plane, fearing that it might blow up at any moment. One jumped clear before it struck ground, thinking he was jumping into the shimmering sea before realizing he had hit shimmering corn instead. He lay on the ground in tremendous pain with a fractured pelvis and a broken hip-bone, his tangled parachute lying beside him.

Below Pic: The German Airmen

As Agnes, Jimmy and Donald approached the turnip field they expected to see a British plane but were shocked when they saw the black German Crosses emblazoned on it. As they followed the deep rut made by the plane Agnes picked up a small pistol lying nearby on the wet earth and put it in her pocket for safe-keeping. The plane`s Navigator lay nearby, seriously injured, where he had landed when he jumped from the plane just before impact. The Pilot was bending over his injured companion and when he saw Agnes and the two men approaching, he called out in good English, "Kamerad, Kamerad, we are Germans, my Navigator is injured...he needs a doctor..."

Jimmy Beedie replied, "Aye, Aye, I`ll go and get Doctor Cameron." and thought to himself, he would first call in on local constable, Harry Soppitt to let him know of the night`s events.

As Jimmy left to get his motor-bike to go to the village for help, Agnes and Donald drew nearer to the injured German airmen. They felt that for the injured airman`s safety he should be carried away from the plane in case it burst into flames. With the help of the 2 other airmen, they retrieved a rubber dingy from the Sea-plane on which to lay the injured man, but it proved too cumber-some and difficult to handle so Donald Watson decided to go and look for a gate on which to lay the injured navigator whilst the young 20 year old Agnes Marr was left alone with the Germans in almost total darkness, with the lantern and the struggling moon-light as her only protection.

Agnes conversed with the Pilot, and looking at the distraught and injured Navigator thought to herself, "Enemies? - he is just a sick human being needing help." The Pilot and Tailgunner surrendered to Agnes Marr, handing over to her their Luger-pistols. She already had in her pocket the gun of the Navigator which she had earlier picked up. Had the Germans so chosen, they could have shot Agnes and made their escape, but compassion for their injured companion, the futility of their situation and their own inherent-human compassion for a defenceless young foreign woman overruled.

The two relatively-uninjured airmen went back inside their plane and Agnes heard the sounds of something being broken up as if the men were trying to destroy something they didn`t want to be seen. They then exited the plane carrying their rucksacks and the Pilot said to Agnes, "Don`t go too near the plane, it is full of bombs and could explode at any moment!" It was a miracle the bombs didn`t explode when it hit ground zero. The fuel tanks too, which were almost full of petrol, amazingly didn`t break up and burst into flames. Not a flicker, no smoke and no deaths. No doubt the airmen considered that a Higher Power had a Hand in their miraculous survival. Donald Watson returned after some time with a gate on which to lay the injured airman, and after laying the groaning, distressed man onto the make-shift stretcher, both he and the Pilot took the front end while Agnes and the Tail-Gunner took the rear end and carried the airman to the safety and warmth of the farm-kitchen.

Meanwhile Jimmy Beedie was down in New Aberdour village banging on the Police-House door and window trying to catch the Constable`s attention, calling out, "Come quick, bobby, a German plane has come down on my farm." Jimmy was out of breath because his motorbike had stalled as he had entered the village and he then had to run all the way up the street to the Police-House. Getting no answer he ran back to his motor-bike, got it started and then rushed back to the Police-House. He could hardly persuade Constable Soppitt and others to believe that a German Bomber had crashed onto his farm-land. "I`ve left my housekeeper with three Germans and one of them is injured" he gasped. They considered that the poor man had gone crazy and could hardly believe what he was saying.[/b] [b]Constable Soppitt then decided that he had better phone his Officials at Fraserburgh, a fishing port, 12 miles away, and inform them of the Farmer`s amazing story.

Back at the farm-house, the airman who had good-command of the English language was deep in conversation with Agnes Marr. He related to her that his own father had trained as a Dental-Surgeon in London prior to the First World War; "Where are we?" he asked the housekeeper. Agnes replied, "You are between the villages of New Aberdour and New Pitsligo on the Moray coastline, Aberdeenshire, about 2 miles from the sea." Concerned about his injured colleague he asked, "What will happen to him, and to us?" "He will be taken to hospital and you will be taken to a Prisoner of War camp." she replied. Spotting the butter and foodstuffs on the kitchen-table, the Airman said with surprise, "You have butter and all this food? We are told you all are starving!" - "Yes," Agnes replied, "We are told the same about you." The Pilot took from his rucksack 2 sealed packs of food which he then popped into the drawer of a kitchen cupboard.

Constable Soppitt had, meanwhile, jumped on to the back-seat of Jimmy Beedie`s motor-bike and they were now well on their way back to the farm. Arriving at the plane and finding it deserted, Jimmy then made for his house where he found his house-keeper, Miss Marr caring for the three airmen and providing them with hot tea, scones, cheese and bread and butter biscuits which she had made herself. Two of the airman were seated at the kitchen-table and the injured man was lying on the floor. Agnes Marr was at the stove frying sausages and eggs for her `visitors` who were still in shock after their unplanned visit.

The Germans, being in shock, were very quiet and subdued and displayed no rudeness or aire of superiority to their hosts. In fact, they appeared quite surprised and appreciative of the kindness being shown to them by the young house-keeper. But this was Agnes Marr and like many of her fellow Scots she had that inherent compassion for the sick and injured and considered it her humane duty to care for such injured, even though they were `the enemy`. Her own brother, Leslie was on a Minesweeper ship far away, doing his bit for the defense of his country and she hoped that, if tragedy ever befell him, he too would be treated with similar kindness by the enemy.

Not long after the arrival of Jimmy Beedie and Constable Soppitt another commotion was heard outside. Then bursting through the door, brandishing guns and rifles, came the `officials` from Fraserburgh, the Home Guard, Police-Inspector George Michie, Police-Sergeant James Thompson and local army officers, and, like the men in the BBC`s `Dad`s Army`, were expecting to face a hostile reception from arrogant Germans. They were shocked to find all the Air-men sitting in quiet conversation with Agnes and the others. The scene before them `took the wind out of their sails`.

Dr John Cameron and the District Nurse from New Pitsligo arrived in their wake and immediately set to task of doing what they could to relieve the suffering of the injured Navigator, but because the kitchen was full of hyped-up men, the Doctor found it difficult to treat his patient and Agnes suggested taking the injured man into the main living room where there was more space to work.
The Home Guard, believing it was their duty to keep an eye on `their enemy` followed them into the `living room` and became quite rude and stroppy with the Pilot, and cursing about `bloody Huns`, hoping to goad the Airman into a hostile reaction so that they could mete out some `British-Justice` to him, but the refined and well-spoken Pilot refused to take the bait, remained calm and answered nothing; Agnes, bravely and politely told the Home-Guard to stop being so rude and "you yourself would expect to be treated kindly if it was you in that situation."The Home-Guard slunk back into the kitchen.

The Pilot implored Dr Cameron to do his best for his injured comrade and Dr Cameron replied that it was his duty to do so. The Pilot gently replied, "You will be rewarded by the Fuhrer". The Doctor noted that the Pilot looked as if he was still in his teens and asked him where in Germany he was from, "I belong to Hamburg," he replied "and I`ve also been to America, and my father trained in London." He took from his rucksack a box and the good-doctor realized that it was a first-class first-aid kit.
Some time later an ambulance arrived to take the injured man to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary hospital, and as they carried him out on a stretcher to the ambulance he discreetly took from his jacket-pocket a pair of binoculars and pressed them into Agnes`s hands, saying, "Danke, Veile" - "Thank you, very much." The army-officers then took hold of the other 2 airmen to take them away and as they were leaving the house, the airmen turned to Agnes Marr and Jimmy Beedie, thanked them profusely for the humaneness shown them, and the Pilot taking the anchor-badge from the Navigator`s cap, pressed this into Jimmy Beedie`s hands as he left.

The night had long gone and it was almost the dawning of the morning before the farm-house emptied of its visitors and neither Jimmy Beedie nor Agnes Marr slept that night. At Dawn, Jimmy watched as the RAF set up guard a ` safe-distance` from the abandoned bomb-laden aircraft. No-one would get within 500 yards of it now. No one, that is, except the `bomb-busters` (and a sneaky, unofficial party from the nearby Pennan village, of `Local Hero` fame, who got through the cordon unseen and made off with a Verey pistol).
Naval experts were the first to move in to tackle the depth-charges. Then the Sappers took over to defuse the bombs. Two giant 560 pound H.E. bombs had been wrenched from their rack on impact and were under the plane which had then to be jacked-up in order to get at them for defusing to begin. Sergeant George Thompson of the RAF was startled to see one of his young men sitting astride one of the bombs, "Hey Young, do you want to blow us all up?" he screamed. Sapper David Young, a teenager with a bomb-proof constitution chirpily replied, "How high do you reckon I`ll go, if it does, Sarge?" This was David and Goliath 1940`s style.

This `Goliath` of a bomb had a `Kopf-ring` round its nose - a steel-hoop to cushion the bomb`s bump on soft-surfaces, especially water, and to prevent it from penetrating too deeply into the soil, and this one was the first unblemished `Kopf-ring` to be salvaged in Great Britain. The task of defusing the bombs took several days and much sweating, but the work was completed.
Then, like vultures, other officials swooped in to strip the plane of its rich pickings. Sledgehammers, crowbars, picks, shovels and axes - anything that could be put to use to `skeletonise` the plane was utilised. The banging, thudding, ripping and tearing apart of the plane could be clearly heard back at the farm-house by Jimmy Beedie and Agnes Marr. "Just as well the German Airmen are not here to see the demise of their beloved Aircraft or they would be gutted", they both mused.

Sapper Gray siezed a radio-set, Sapper Thom a dynamo, Sapper Young a 7.2mm machine-gun, others prised off swastikas and mint condition aerofoil; Modern German aeronautic equipment was ripped out of its mooring, and anything that could be displayed as a `souvenir` was taken away. The Military gave Constable Soppitt the Sea-Plane`s Anchor as a Souvenir, which he later donated to Fraserburgh Library.



A neighbouring farmer looking across his fields and on seeing the tail of the aircraft sticking up in the air said to his wife, "Hey, quine, Jimmy Beedie must have bocht een o` yon new-fangled Combine Hairvesters.”

In retrospect, the events of that September night, long ago, reveal the heroic and courageous actions of a young `kitchen-maid` in the face of what could well have been her last hours on Earth, barely a month before her 21st birthday. The Home Guard and Army Officials got all the credit. Agnes Marr got none.

Pic Above : Constable Harry Soppitt, with the Anchor from the Heinkel 115 Bomber which he was given as a Souvenir by the Military and which he later donated to the Fraserburgh Library.

Sunday September 15th 1940 was hailed as Battle of Britain Sunday. Winston Churchill, that great war-time Prime Minister was leading the Nation in a day of Thanksgiving and Rejoicing over the `cutting to pieces` of the German Luftwaffe in the skies over London. At Windyhead his eulogy was even more appropriate.

After the German Air-Navigator was released from hospital, he joined his comrades at a Prisoner-of-War camp, remaining there til the war ended in 1945. They then returned to Germany where one of the Airmen had their story published amongst others in a book entitled, 'Luftwaffe at War (1939-42)'.
Jimmy Beedie took Agnes Kindness Marr to be his wife not long after this unforgettable night, and she provided him with seven sons and one daughter over the next 15 years.

Last edited by Nick Beale; 6th February 2018 at 12:54. Reason: To highlight source of newspaper article
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Old 5th February 2018, 20:23
William Beedie William Beedie is offline
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@Chris Goss you were looking for info on this last year

@alanatabz This was a plane you were looking for info on last year
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Old 6th February 2018, 12:23
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

Most interesting and thank you for taking the time
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Old 6th February 2018, 12:44
William Beedie William Beedie is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

I just copied and pasted Chris, when I noticed that the plane had been mentioned before on the site and people were interested in it, would love to know what happened to the aircrew after the war, as my Grannie spoke very highly of them and she was shocked that they were nice guys after the propaganda machine demonising Germans
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Old 6th February 2018, 14:39
alanatabz alanatabz is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

Hi William

Can you send me a private message with your Email / Phone no please?, I am based in Aberdeen and been researching this.

I spoke recently to one of your family (Dennis)?

Alan
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Old 6th February 2018, 14:42
alanatabz alanatabz is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

I can't seem to PM you, but email with your details.

Last edited by alanatabz; 7th February 2018 at 08:36.
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Old 6th February 2018, 15:12
William Beedie William Beedie is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

Hi Alan, I have sent you an email as being a trawlerman, phone signal is patchy and very seldom home, but you might be better deleting your email just in case spammers use it
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Old 6th February 2018, 16:24
John Beaman John Beaman is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

Great Story!
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Old 6th February 2018, 16:36
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

I was in touch with Aldus but not the others and I am afraid I do not know what they did after the war
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Old 6th February 2018, 22:09
William Beedie William Beedie is offline
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Re: HE 115C w/nr 2754 8L+GH 1/KuFlGr906 Ijmuiden/Schellingwoode,

http://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/kflgr706.html
Which unit was this one from as the page above shows a few units from 906 and one was in Stavanger between 27 Jul 1940 - Mar 1941
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