Did you ever get an answer to this one? (My father lived very nearby and actually witnessed the crash as a 12 year old - he knows precisely where it ended up, because he 'liberated' the wingtip and made off with it - it included the landing light, the bulb stated - 'OSRAM Made in England'!!!. It's been lost over the years tho'
I can ask him about the location if you still need the info)
BTW, I believe two of the crew died, buried in Hooton Cem - but later re-interred in Germany (I think)
Not really doubting anyone but German personnel who died in the UK are usually buried in the German military cemetery in Cannock, Staffs. Some were obviously buried locally to where they died but later they were disinterred and reburied with their comrades there. I doubt any were sent home unless they were from extremely wealthy families and were sent home years after the war ended?
Mikeeb Is it your dad mentioned in this book? the lads on the boat as it crashed?
Yes Mike – that’s my Dad! He was in the boat when he heard the anti-aircraft guns down the river open up, but had just managed to get to the shore as the crash took place. Thanks very much for posting.
Quote
Helles Not really doubting anyone but German personnel who died in the UK are usually buried in the German military cemetery in Cannock, Staffs. Some were obviously buried locally to where they died but later they were disinterred and reburied with their comrades there.
Mmmm, quite right. when I wrote that, I didn’t know the full story, which is why I put the (I think) bit in my original post – sorry, lack of knowledge at the time.
In the event only one of the crew were killed, Leutnant Herbert Schlegel who was the observer, receiving a bullet through the head. He was originally buried in Hooton Cem, but later re-interred at Cannock, so that ties in neatly with your statement.
I also thought that Sonderfuhrer Horst Lehmann (acting as rear gunner) was killed, but it seems that he survived, very badly injured. He was in the ventral gondola (underneath the aircraft) which could be detached in emergencies, and it seems he opted to do that just before the aircraft hit the ground, rather than joining the crew in the cockpit.
I believe that Colin Schroeder, the e-books’ author, is revising it, as he has received more information from new sources. I don’t know when it will be available, however I think he’s done a great job gathering all the pieces of information together.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Going off memory and it was probably written by Colin Schroeder, I'll try and find it, the 3 POW's were sent to Canada, two if not all three were repatriated in a prisoner exchange organised through the Red Cross.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Pilot Helmuth Bruckmann (26 yr old): To Cockfosters, London for interrogation (1 week) To Grizedale Hall, Lake District for interrogation (3 months) To Canada as POW: Camp for Officers Repatriated May 1944 by the International Red Cross D 2001
Leutnant Herbert Schlegel (24 yr old): Originally buried at Hooton Village Churchyard. Re-interred in 1962 Cannock, Staffordshire, block No.3, grave No.117.
Unteroffizier Helmut Weth (25 yr old): To Cockfosters, London for interrogation (1 week) To Grizedale Hall, Lake District for interrogation (3 months) To Canada as POW: Angler, Lake Superior and Lethbridge, Alberta (7 years) Repatriated 1947 via England as ‘Forced labourer’ D 1985
Sonderfuehrer Horst Lehmann (37 yr old): To Clatterbridge to recover POW (Canada?) Repatriated October 1943 by the International Red Cross D ????
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Yes Mike – that’s my Dad! He was in the boat when he heard the anti-aircraft guns down the river open up, but had just managed to get to the shore as the crash took place. Thanks very much for posting.
WOW! Thats amazing, a live link to the book All this info is in the link in my original post It is only a short read (30 pages) and was written by Colin Shroeder The reference to your dad is on page 17 "Dennis Housley who lived in Magazine Village at the time" "Dennis was one of three 12 and 13 year old boys who had a half day off school"
Pilot Helmuth Bruckmann (26 yr old): To Cockfosters, London for interrogation (1 week) To Grizedale Hall, Lake District for interrogation (3 months) To Canada as POW: Camp for Officers
wonder what the form of interrogation was--especially moving up to the lake district--water boarding ? having to eat Kendal Mint Cake? or listen to hours and hours of Vera Lynn ,
I’ve been trying to get the flight paths of enemy and defending aircraft right in my mind; the flight path of the action at a local level is the one area I have never seen documented graphically either in the e-book, or anywhere else. It helps in my understanding of the way this incident panned out.
However, there are two things that niggle me regarding the accounts given by eyewitnesses. I’m not dismissing them; quite the opposite - it’s just that I can’t fit them into the whole story easily. Can anyone help make the statements fit the known facts?
Firstly, a recap of what is known may be useful: 1. The enemy aircraft is noted by observer on George Henry Lees flying up river 2. 312 Squadron notified of incoming raid 3. The Ju88 target is the Rootes Factory at Speke – so the Ju88 must have flown close to the factory 4. 312 Squadron Yellow Section scrambled to patrol Hoylake 5. 289 AA Battery of 93rd Artillery at Ince open up at lone Ju88 heading from Helsby direction and heading Northwest 6. 312 Squadron airborne and climbing – Yellow 3 notices the AA bursts over Stanlow area and turns to port to intercept. Yellow 1 and 2 follow. 7. Guns cease with the arrival of the 3x312 Squadron Hurricanes 8. Enemy aircraft engaged and shot down, landing on reclaimed land at Bromborough Dock, close to Magazine Village
So now the bits that I can’t get to fit in my mind.
One eyewitness states they were 5 years old and living in Western Avenue in Speke and saw the Ju88 being pursued by 2 Hurricanes. How can that be when the two sets of aircraft only engaged in the Ince area (when the AA guns ceased firing)? I don’t think they turned around and had a battle over Speke?
The other thing is that I don’t get is another eyewitness report that stated that the Ju88 “veered, and nearly hit Bromborough Church steeple”. Given that the crash site was just over a mile away, the twists and turns required to get back onto the known crash glide path don’t make sense (to me). Nothing is mentioned in any reports of two 90 degree turns in the final seconds of the battle, so how can the flights proximity to Bromborough Church be explained?
And another thing…. (that’ll be 3 things then ) I’ve never understood how Denys Gillam (Yellow Section Leader - "Yellow 1")could be at the crash site within 15 minutes either… that’s some going in a 30s car, through the Mersey Tunnel from Speke. My father, who witnessed the final moments of the action, did see one of the pilots, but he was a Czech, and had walked along the river side from Hooton Park where he had landed after the action.
I’ve knocked up a plan of what I’m ‘assuming’ to be the flight paths, compiled from the known facts (1 to 8 above) – I hope it’s close. I would also hope that the questions I have posed make more sense when applied to the paths plotted on it. The inset picture shows the projected Bromborough Church manoeuvres in a bit more detail to try and explain what I’m on about. I’m not sure how the picture will appear in the forum environment, so here's hoping it's OK.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
My father (as a boy) witnessed this Ju88 Incident from Magazine Village, where he lived at the time. He was playing in the woods nearby with his friends when he heard the Ju88 plane fly over in his words 'as low as low'. His account of this is in the Ju88 Incident report under the 'Reports and Witness Statements' by Ron Wright.
He recalls that his friends and himself were first onto the scene before officials arrived. He remembers people taking so called souvenirs from the crashed plane. He remembers that one of his friends grabbed a dinghy from the aircraft and took it home, where he then stored it under the stairs. During the course of the next few days, the family all become unwell, and the cause of the illness was put down to the smell coming from the dinghy.
