Downed Heinkel He 111

[ATTACH=CONFIG]239275[/ATTACH] Being the first intact He 111 to fall into British hands it was forensically examined at the RAE and resulted in a number of reports on its systems and metallurgy.
This is part of the first of them

Having had lengthy correspondence with the captain of the aircraft, Rolf Niehoff, in the late 1970s early 80s you may be assured that the above version of the ‘landing’ is in the far distant realms of fantasy land!

The surrounding land looks remarkably unscathed, so was it moved prior to this photo being taken? It would be interesting to try and identify the spot from the terrain in the background.

According to reports, apparently it landed wheels down, then tried to get back into the air again before finally coming to rest so the final crash speed was relatively low and at a shallow angle.

I wrote up the full story of this in After The Battle many years ago, with an expanded version in Blitz Then & Now Vol 1 – plus, more recently, in Arrival of Eagles (Grub Street Publishing)

The surrounding land looks remarkably unscathed, so was it moved prior to this photo being taken? It would be interesting to try and identify the spot from the terrain in the background.

It was Heinkel 111H-4 1H+JA of KG26. Crew details here –

http://www.aircrashsites-scotland.co.uk/heinkel-he111_longnewton.htm

There’s a link to a video too –

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675070948_Heinkel-Nazi-bomber_wrecked-bomber_swastika-sign_German-officials-examine

There’s also a nice little article in the wonderfully-named Up Yer Kilt magazine lol. It includes a couple of other photos –

http://www.upyerkiltmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Edition15-part-21.pdf

Ju 88 Pegal Burn crash highlighted ehre..http://www.crashsiteorkney.com/page4.htm

Type “Humbie Heinkel” into Google for more information on this incident

The small outer crosses were the original early style and size. The larger ones are due to orders which were received during late 1939 to increase the size of the crosses. The majority of aircraft during this period had the smaller crosses overpainted. This one was obviously didn’t… The second aircraft to be shot down and land on UK soil in WW2. The first was a Ju88A-1, of 1./KG30 on 17 October 1940, brought down by AA fire and exploded at Pegal Burn, Island of Hoy, Orkney Islands, Scotland. 🙂

From Scottish Airfields In The Second World War vol 1 – The Lothians by Martin Chorlton-

“At 1020 hours (on 28th October 39) while at 10,000ft over Tranent, McKellar spotted anti-aircraft fire at approx. 16.000ft and north of Red Section’s position. A single aircraft was spotted heading south-east at 14,000ft but McKellar had his doubts as to whether it was an enemy aircraft. Turnhouse Sector Control told him to continue his pursuit. … Two of the three Spitfires, including McKellar’s, managed to attack the aircraft which by this stage of the combat had been positively identified as an He 111.”

The port engine of the Heinkel was hit and it crash landed at Humbie 6 miles from Haddington.

“The aircraft was riddled with approximately 300 bullet holes, two of the crew were dead and the pilot and navigator were badly injured.”

The book then states that a shared victory was awarded between 602 and 603 squadron which was also involved. 602 having inflicted the initial damage and 603 finishing it off.

I must admit I’ve read a few varying accounts of events that day! The Story of Drem Airfield by George J.F. Simpson has eye-witness accounts in which the pilot was wounded and the observer uninjured and both were able to give their thanks to a doctor who attended the scene. I had previously also been under the impression that the Heinkel was a kill attributed to Archie McKellar alone.

Archie McKellar went on to lead 605 Squadron. The Hurricane of the Strathallan Collection flew in his markings as UP-A until its sale to Canada.

Hi everyone

I stumbled over this image on Pinterest … allegedly linked from google.it but when I click through I get an unknown link. So I don’t know where it comes from, more than happy to attribute if anyone can point to a correct attribution.

But about the photo itself … I’m intrigued
(a) by the duplicate Balkenkreuz on the wings … I don’t think I’ve seen that
(b) and anyone know the history of this pic, aircraft, location, crew, etc.?

cheers Don

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Kill credited to Archie McKeller of 602 squadron October 28, 1939. Crashed near Humbie in the Lammermuir Hills. First aircraft brought down on British Soil during WW2.

This is taken from the caption of a similar photo of this aircraft in “Glasgow’s Own” by Dugald Cameron.

A quick google search reveals more photos of the same aircraft on the wwiimodeller forum. There are 4 or 5 different photos of the same crash scene (work your way back through previous photos from that link).