9 May 1941 - KG53 - Heinkels - Hull area
9 May 1941 – 6/KG53 – Heinkel 111 – A1+CW – Op North East and Midlands – Pilot Unknown – AA victim at 0126 hrs. Also credited to a Defiant of 255 Squadron.
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9 May 1941 – 4/KG53 – Heinkel 111 – A1+FM – Op North East and Midlands – Pilot Unknown – AA Victim at 0200hrs. Also credited to a Defiant of 255 Squadron.
Aircraft crashed Sunk Island Road area Patrington nr Hull.
This is a difficult incident to identify. 2 Heinkels were lost on the same night in the same area.
One empty parachute harness found in the park at Barrow-upon-Humber. Also one dead body, possibly Gefr H Wulf, recovered from a field next to the park. Part of the aircraft was found in next to a crater at Goxhill. One aircrew was rescued from the Humber and taken prisoner. Thought to be Uffz Magie. Aircraft reportedly came down on the North Bank of the Humber. This aircraft was a victim of 255 Squadron night fighters flying Defiants and based at Kirton in Lindsey or AA victims or a combination of both
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The 255 Squadron ORB entry for 1 May 1941, written up at the end of the month, makes reference to the activities throughout May 1941 in the following terms:
"This moonlit period (till 17/5/41) was one of intense enemy 'blitzing' of target areas in N.E. and Central England and in consequence a considerable strain was thrown on the Squadron. Each night one flight was at 'readiness' with the other 'available', and on some occasions during the peak moonlit period as many as sixteen planes have been at 'readiness'. From the assumption of dusk state on 2/5/41 till the end of dusk state on 17/5/41 (15 nights) a total of one hundred and thirty-two operational night patrols were flown. In fact a total of eighty-eight were flown in the 6 nights from midnight on 10/5/41, an average of more than 14˝ patrols per night. The squadron had its most successful period since its formation, as will be seen from the victories set out infra. The most satisfactory aspect of these combats is that the losses inflicted on the enemy were all achieved at the loss of only one Defiant both the occupants of which landed safely by baling out of their burning machine."
The highlight came in the early hours of the ninth of May, when the squadron shot down 6 enemy bombers and damaged a seventh within the space of half an hour, all achieved without loss to the squadron’s personnel or planes. This produced a deluge of congratulations, headed by a personal message from the Rt. Hon. Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt., CMG, MP, the Secretary of State for Air.
It was a magnificent finale to the squadron’s time at RAF Kirton Lindsey, which the aircraft and aircrews left on the 15th. Due to some facilities at RAF Hibaldstow not being complete, the squadron’s administrative HQ and some maintenance activities remained at Kirton Lindsey. The split of administrative location continued until 9 June.
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Mr David Jordan contacted me about the Heinkel crash at Patrington in Feb 2023
“I am now almost 80 and from about aged 10 years ie 1953-1963 I lived near the main Hull- Patrington Road close to the old railway line crossing, the Hull-Withernsea line was still open during my early years there, and a drain/ wide stream ran across the bottom of our garden. The same drainage canal was close to the crash site about 200 yards to the east of our house. This drainage canal was dredged in about 1957 and this included heavy machinery coming through our garden leaving a wide pile of mud etc across the width of the garden and about 4-5 foot high. A similar mound of mud was deposited along the embankment of the canal in the fields to the east and west of our house.
At that time I was a member of the local scout troop in Patrington which had its own scout/cub hut adjoining the old rectory in the village, I and a best friend, Pete Dobson, spent a lot of our spare time wandering around the immediate countryside trying to amuse ourselves. His father worked on the railway and he lived in a railway cottage attached to Patrington rail station. This meant we often wandered between our two homes and it was on one of these walks that we went across the fields toward what I now know was the crash site. We walked along the line of the canal with its freshly deposited bank of mud and slurry and spotted what appeared to be the tip of a propeller blade which we then managed to retrieve. It was pretty heavy and was a single blade with was bent over at the tip and was connected to a central cogged ring of a different metal. Brass ? The blade also seemed fairly long, about 5-6 feet. It seemed clear the propeller had resided under the water prior to the dredging.
We decided that it would be a pretty cool souvenir for the scout hut if we could retrieve it and, with no thought to ownership, we managed to drag it across a couple of fields to my home. We then acquired a home made “bogey”, wooden planks and pram wheels, from someone and managed to get the propeller the 2 miles to the scout hut in Patrington where we washed it and put in on display in one corner of the hut. It remained there until we both left the scouts and I am not sure what happened to it since. I am not even sure if the scout hut is still there but it is a small village community so someone may know something more and there is still a scout troop I understand.
At the time we knew nothing of a wartime crash in the area and we vaguely speculated that it might have been from that era but we had no internet and it was only a casual conversation with someone recently talking about how kids occupied themselves in very rural communities years ago that prompted the production of an I-phone and a google search. Hence my contact.”
An interesting account. Wonder what became of the prop blade ?
Compiled by David Fell. Thanks to the 255 Squadron website
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