Luftwaffe loss over the North Sea, 24th June 1941

[Hans Nauta]

Dear all,

According to the KTB of 1./BFlSt196 a returning Heinkel He 111 observed a dinghy at position 2386 (North Sea, 70 km W of Hook of Holland - roughly half way between Holland and England) during the night of 23/24th June 1941

I'm only aware of the loss of He 111H-3 6N+KL Wnr 5682 of 3./KGr100 that date, but there were no survivors.

I hope someone may have more losses on file for that date and perhaps there's one loss over the North Sea amongst it with survivors which may be linked to the observed dinghy?

Thanks in advance,
Hans Nauta

[Larry]

Did the crew indicate that the dingy originated from a Luftwaffe aircraft or could it be from an Allied plane?

The dingy could have carried the crew of an aircraft shot down several days before. In fact some crews spent a week at sea before being found and others were never found at all.

According to Bomber Command Losses 1941 by Bill Chorley two Wellingtons of 218 sqn were lost on an operation to Kiel on 20th/21st June 1941 - R 1339 (HA-J) and R1713 (HA-V) and might fit in with the sighting. R1339 was last plotted as 60 miles off the enemy coast.

[Hans Nauta]

Hello Larry,

Thanks for your thoughts, I've considered these possibilities too. However according to a German NVM the dinghy was thought to be of German origin.

Best wishes,
Hans Nauta