BF 110 Kills 28th September 1940

[Jon]

At approximately 1440 hours on 28th September 1940 BF110's were engaged by Hurricanes from 238 Squadron in the Portland / Isle of Wight region.

Does anyone know for sure what BF110 unit it was?
What kills were claimed by the 110 unit during this battle ?

Thanks.
Jon

[Peter Cornwell]

No.238 Sqdn casualties during this action were all due to Bf109s of I/JG2, Wick, Krahl, and Richey claiming one apiece. The Bf110s reported by No.238 Sqdn were almost certainly II/ZG26 who were operating over Portland on this date/time. As far as I know they filed no claims & suffered no losses in this engagement. The top-cover 109s seemingly did their job well. Refer BoBT&N p481.

[Adam]

There was one claim by Fw Helmet Haugk of 7./ZG 26 for a spitfire. The claim was listed for 15.45 hours though

hope it helps

Adam

[Ota Jirovec]

Adam,

if I recall correctly, the German time was one hour ahead from the British one. Therefore the time of Haugk´s claim matches pretty well (but unfortunately we do not know the exact location).

Hope this helps a little,

Ota

[Jon]

Thanks to you all for your information that has confirmed all the research i have been doing.
As you are probably aware i am on a bit of a quest to discover who brought down Sgt Bann for myself but mainly for his brother.
Certainly it is one of these four pilots mentioned and i agree Helmut Haugk certainly claimed a Spitfire at the correct time in the correct area.
As we all know that Spitfire could very easily have been a Hurricane.

Sgt Gordon Batt said it was a swift attack with Cannon only, so it could have really been either type flown well.

How accurate were the Luftwaffe at placing kills to places ?
For example if they claimed a kill say over Hastings but said it was near Folkestone would it still be confirmed and logged as that area mentioned by the pilot ?

Also flying time from Portland to the Isle of wight in either a 109 or 110 must have been minutes, did they claim the kill at the exact time it went down in the heat of combat or did they look at the watch after the combat was over and get a bearing then ( could be miles away) ?

Thanks.
Jon

[Franek Grabowski]

Peter
42 Me 110 of ZG26 took part in the mission and they claimed 3 Spitfires and 2 Hurricanes for no loss.

[Jon]

Thanks Franek.
I have a copy of the 238 Squadron form 541 for this date and it states:

" Take off 14.23...12 Sorties comprising Squadron. Proceeded to E of Isle of Wight and encountered 25 ME 110 flying in a defensive circle, also ME 109 to starboard. Squadron went into attack but were then attacked by the 109's.
P/O Rozyck destroyed 1. 110 but Sgt Little and P/O Harrison did not return. Sgt Bann was killed being shot down and his chute did not open".

This to me says the 110 were in their defensive circle that prevented any losses ( unless you have proof of the 110 loss). The 109's attacked and the Hurricanes then had to fight with them releasing the 110's to attack also.
Again i am back to either type being in the area !

[Franek Grabowski]

Jon
Daily report does not mention any losses, so I think all the aircraft returned to base, although possibly with some degree of damage. I do not have Rozycki's report, so cannot make any assesment.
I am looking at wartime biography of Wick but cannot find this combat. As long as we do not have any narratives for this encounter, I would leave it open and unsolved.
Perhaps one of our board friends can help with any addrresses toliving JG2 and ZG26 aircrew?