He59 9 October 1941 at Oostende Harbour (Belgium)

[Luc Vervoort]

Hello,
The orb of 615 Squadron (AIR 27/2123) mentions for 9/10/1941 :
…
Off Ostende they found a 140 foot barge, and 800 ton M/V and a 240 feet 1,500 ton M ton M/V with a flakship and a ‘R’ boat for company. The C.O. climed into cloud and from this cover dived onto the ships. When the attack had finished the 800 ton vessel which was attacked four times was left damaged and smoking, the 1,500 tonner attacked eight times was belching steam, black and white smoke and was burning. The flakship was shot up by four aircraft and was claimed as damaged. The A.A.battery on the harbour entrance was attacked once. Squadron Leader Gillam flew right up the harbour and shot up a 200 ton barge and then flew into the Nouveau Bassin and destroyed one and damaged another He59 seaplane on the water. He then attacked a hangar and men running towards it. In all 5583 rounds of .303 rounds were fired and 645 of 20 mm.
...
It was subsequently learned that the second He59 was set on fire by Squadron Leader Gillam and has been given as an ‘officially’ destroyed.

Are any additional details about these He59’s available ?


Many thanks and best regards


Luc

[Stig Jarlevik]

Luc

No losses seems to have taken place among the He 59s.
None are listed as either lost or damaged on that date. So if anything was damaged, it did not make it back into any GQM reports

Strafing is more difficult than one would think since you are diving towards the ground. Are you on top fired at by Flak, the situation gets rather unpleasant very quickly.
At this early stage (1941) of the British offensive, they often overestimated their successes, both in the air-air and air-ground environment.

Cheers
Stig

[Luc Vervoort]

Stig,


Many thanks for your reply.

As 615 Squadron also claimed two He59’s destroyed in Oostende on 27/10/1941,only a few weeks later, I started to doubt about the date of this attack, but just found that the Lagebericht nr.761 (Der Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, Führungsstab Ic, part of file 500-12452-000166 - Tsamo) dated 10/10/1941 (covering 9/10/1941 08h00 till 10/10/1941 08h00) mentions that 2 ‘Seenotflugzeuge’ were damaged in the port of Oostende, when the ‘Seeflughafen’ was attacked. No type nor unit is mentioned.
The Lagebericht nr.779 (part of file 500-12452-000170 – Tsamo) mentions for the attack on 27/10/1941 that 2 He59 were destroyed by fire, 3 He59 and He60 were damaged. The GQM report only mentions 2 He59’s (1 destroyed and 1 damaged).

Are the reduced number of losses and damaged aircraft mentioned in the GQM reports the result of clerical errors or was this common practice ?

Best regards

Luc

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi Luc

I don't know these 'Lageberichts' you mention.
Neither can I say why they seemingly differ from the GQM reports.

For example on 27 Oct only one He 59 E is reported as lost, unfortunately I have no WNr for that one. Can't see anything damaged.

I can imagine that initially aircraft looked much worse damaged than they actually were and after a more thorough technical assessment was made, the actual report was downgraded. But it is a bit hard to comprehend something initially reported as DBF and later downgraded to not even damaged....

No I have no good explanation for that....

Cheers
Stig

[Luc Vervoort]

Hi Stig,


Many thanks for your reply.


The Lageberichts can be found at :


http://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/d...-luftwaffe-okl


They are part of the Tsamo collection (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...ighlight=tsamo)


Best regards


Luc

[robert]

you should consult also KTB of Hafenkommander Oostend (or Admiral North French Coast) as well as KTB of F.d.Luft West. But I`m not sure if all of these files excist?

Robert

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by Luc Vervoort

The Lageberichts can be found at :
http://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/d...-luftwaffe-okl

Thanks Luc

I figured they would. However one needs to be far more fluent in German than I am to be able to understand them.

Cheers
Stig

[RT]

Hello Luc,

For the whole month of october, only 3 losses of Seaplanes, related to that area

27 10 41 3 3 1,Seenotgr, F Ostende FP See F J Tiefangriff Hurricane HE59 1511 D-AGUI 100
27 10 41 3 3 1,Seenotgr, F Ostende FP See F J Tiefangriff Hurricane HE59 1526 TH+HC 20
27 10 41 3 3 1,Seenotgr, F Ostende FP See F J Tiefangriff Hurricane HE59 2600 DD+BC 100


+ 1 a bit earlier but in the air



14 10 41 3 3 Seenotst, I,Seenotgr,Ostende F Raversijde 1 km Seewärts, 4 km südwestlich Ostende A FJ Hurricane x 8 HE59E 1824 100
All confirmed by the KTB der Marine



Rémi

[Stig Jarlevik]

Thanks for that update Rémi

Very useful indeed!

Cheers
Stig

[Luc Vervoort]

Robert, Rémi and Stig,


Many thanks for your replies.



Best regards


Luc