Confirmation of fuselage code for Do17Z WNr.3440 15/9/40 The Chase, Chatham

[Clint Mitchell]

Hi all, I have an anomaly with a fuselage code for a downed 8./KG2 Do17Z WNr.3440 which crashed at The Chase, City Way, Chatham on the 15/9/40.

CREW:
Pilot: Unteroffizier Josof STAMPFER - POW.
Observer: Oberleutnant Werner KITTMANN - POW.
W/T: Unteroffizier Paul LANGER - POW.
Kriegsberichter: Flieger Wolfgang KOHLER - POW

The fuselage code in the Blitz T&N Vol 2 is recorded as U5+PS. I've also seen it mentioned as being U5+LS. From looking at the A.I.(k) report for this incident I notice that the third letter of the Fuselage code on my copy is slightly worn away which could be the reason for the code being given as U5+LS because the damaged letter does at a distance resemble an L. But on closer inspection it appears to show a B making U5+BS. Does anyone know which is correct? I've attached a close up of the fuselage code section of the A.I.(k) report to show what I mean:

Attachment 7480

Thanks

[Chris Goss]

According to Balke, it was U5+PS?

[Peter Cornwell]

Clint,

German records list it as U5+PS. The A.I.1.(k) Report No.538/1940 gives it as U5+BS which is understandable when you consider that they were trying to make sense of tangled wreckage. But it would take a really poor photocopy to interpret this as U5+LS.

[Clint Mitchell]

Thank you gentlemen, Peter, that's what I thought considering the mess this Dornier must have been in when it crashed. But just wanted to check.

Thanks again

[Clint Mitchell]

Gentlemen, just another query regarding this loss. Does anyone have confirmed in a period document the locations of where each of the crew landed after bailing out from this stricken Dornier. I have seen mentions of the crew landing in and around Walderslade with Wolfgang Kohler the Kriegsberichter landing as far away as Bredhurst. Kittmann the observer mentions in Dr Alfred Price's, Battle of Britain Day that all of the crew bailed at the same time. Which causes a problem with regards to Kohler landing at Bredhurst and not in the vicinity of the rest of the crew. The aircraft still travelled quite some way on it's own to then crash at The Chase.

Thanks for any help.

[udf_00]

Maybe he pulled the ring sooner than the other three, and drifted with the wind ?

[Clint Mitchell]

That is certainly is a good possibility at this point. Just trying to clarify whether he did actually come down at Bredhurst and whether this type of information would be recorded somewhere officially? Basically on the Kent History Forum a gentleman who actually saw this Do17Z come down is trying to track it's final movements. He saw it briefly twice above and in between the houses quite low before the crash, well low enough to get a good look at the crosses. He and several others are doing a nice job tracking down all of the reports from the local AA sites that engaged it and mention the direction/height of this Dornier hoping to build an overall picture of the final moments. It's only the fact that one crew member fell really quite far away from the others that is throwing a spanner in the works. Another researcher has suggested that on that day there were quite strong winds which is the reason why the Kriegsberichter landed further afield. I've found no further evidence of strong winds that day? It is also the same researcher that has suggested that the Kriegsberichter did actually land at Bredhurst so I just want to confirm either way.