Losses German Bight 18.12.1939

[Chris Goss]

9 Sqn-N2873 starboard wing to rear mid cell of wing badly shot up. Fire gone out. Ac badly peppered
9 Sqn N2871 right tank holed rudder partially jammed
37 Sqn-N2903 only survivor
149 Sqn-N2960, N2892, N2962, N2984, N2866, N2894, N2980, N2943, N2961. N2984 & N2894 RTB with engine problems
Sources-F540/541

[MW Giles]

Formation 1 - Section 1

N2960 W/C Kellett - Landed Mildenhall (149) - repaired
N2892 F/O Turner - Landed Mildenhall (149)
N2962 F/O Spiers - shot down

Formation 1 - Section 2

N2984 F/L Duguid - Early return engine trouble (149)
N2866 F/O Riddlesworth - Landed Mildenhall (149) - repaired
N2894 F/S Kelly - Early return with N2984 (149)

Formation 2 - Section 1

N2980 S/L Harris - Landed Coltishall (149) - repaired
N2943 F/O Bulloch - Landed Mildenhall (149)
N2961 F/O Briden - Ditched off Cromer Knoll (149)

Formation 2 - Section 2

N2964 - F/L Grant - Landed Honington (9)
N2981 - Sgt Purdy - Landed Honington (9)
N2983 - Sgt Ramshaw - Ditched 100m off Wash (9)

Formation 3 - Section 1

N2872 S/L Guthrie - Shot down (9)
N2871 F/O Macrae - Landed North Coates (9) - repaired
N2873 Sgt Petts - Landed Sutton Bridge (9) - repaired

Formation 3 Section 2

N2941 F/O Allison - Shot Down (9)
N2940 P/O Lines - Shot Down (9)
N2939 F/O Challes - Shot Down (9)

Formation 4

N2904 S/L Hue-Williams - Shot Down (37)
N2903 F/O Lemon - Landed Feltwell (37) - repaired
N2888 F/O Wimberley - Shot Down (37)
N2889 F/O Lewis - Shot Down (37)
N2935 F/O Thompson - Shot Down (37)
N2936 Sgt Ruse - Shot Down (37)


9 Sqn 9 took off, five lost, two repaired
37 Sqn 6 took off, five lost, one repaired
149 Sqn 9 took off, two returned early, two lost, three repaired

Repaired would indicate a reasonably significant amount of damage.

38 Sqn also did a sea sweep, nothing seen all landed safely

N2908 F/O MacFadden (38)
N2909 F/O Hopkins (38)
N2952 Sgt Sayers (38)

Source The Battle of Heligoland Bight 1939 (Robin Holmes)

I have 40 Luftwaffe claims for the day. We would need several more formations of Wellingtons to account for this lot. 12/22 is more than enough, the rest is inexperienced overclaiming

Regards

Martin

[Marius]

Many thanks Martin.
It is very interesting indeed. We have now 27 Wellingtons which took of for this mission.

What was the flying order and the direction as the formations left Wilhelmshaven?
First 149,

then 9 and

37 as last formation attacked ?

Regards,

[Chris Goss]

I make it 24 with 3 on a separate mission i.e a sea sweep.
I think that what Martin has written gives a good idea of the formation. The 37 Sqn ORB states that they flew in 4 flights in diamond formation with an attack height of 14,000 feet. No mention of direction

[Petrusja]

I have a figure of about 20 RAF airmen rescued by Seedienst He 59s on this day.
Are there any details on this?

Peter

[Marius]

Also looking at the German victory list 37 Sqd flew surely nearby Borkum at the end of the whole "Heligoland formation", right? This was at appr. 14.45 hours (see claims of Lt. Lent at Borkum 14.40 & 14.45 hours).
I am wondering what Wellingtons were attacked at 14.45-14.55 hours near Wangerooge, Spiekeroog or Langeoog ? There are several claims as well as other at 15.00 hours achieved by 2./ZG 76 25 km WNW Borkum - it should be the same formation which apparently did not exist...

Surprisingly the German Luftlagebericht 119 from 19.12.1939 does confirm this "ghost formation" of 22 aircraft at Borkum and Norden at 14.45 as it flew eastwards. If it was so the British official story is only 50% true. Or German documents were reporting science fiction together with pilots from I./ZG 76 & II./JG 77.

Regards,

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

How many of these a/c fell on land? We're trying to do color profiles for the EoE Project of an a/c from each of the three SQ that participated in this raid. I've so far located only three photos of wreckage of one a/c, identified as 37 SQ N2936, apparently flown by Sgt Ruse and captioned as SD over Borkum. Were there any other wrecks photographed by the Germans on land after this action?

There is one a/c that participated in this mission, N2980 "R" of 149 SQ, that is being restored at the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge. It was recovered from the waters of Loch Ness after ditching there a year after its Heligoland episode. Does anyone have any photos of this a/c as it appeared in Dec., 1939? I do have the book, "The Battle of Heligoland Bight 1939" by Robin Holmes, which has a photo of the a/c more or less as it appears today as "R" for Robert, but apparently without a SQ code. Other photos of it are on the Brooklands Museum website.

Does anyone have any matching SQ codes to fit with the SN of the a/c listed by Martin that participated in this mission?

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator

[Chris Goss]

I have 4 codes for 9 Sqn, all for 37 Sqn & none for 149 Sqn-source F540/541. Didn't Lent & Schumacher's kills crash on land/almost on land?

[Juha]

Originally Posted by Jochen Prien

... is completely set straight in the substantially revised JG 77 unit history I'm working on as a side-line to the JFV series...

That is an excellent news!

Juha

[MW Giles]

Have you thought that the ghost formation might by the Germans looking at a formation of their own aircraft or alternatively that someone's timings are a bit out?

Having looked at all the RAF ORBs there really is no one else from the RAF out there. A quick check of the CWGC site shows that the dead are all accounted for, if there were lots of additional losses then they would show up there

Regards

Martin