He 113 "in the Battle of Britain"

Suffice to say that there were a good many more “friendly fire” episodes over that period that one might imagine.

This is easy to imagine, if only from the fact that extensive quick recognition markings were hastily introduced in the Fighter Command in late 1940.

Andy please clear out some PM’s!!

Thanks

Paul

Did you refer in another thread or in another place to friendly fire incidents? The more one has read in recent years the more one is aware that this is certainly a common occurrence in conflict, although, for obvious reasons, kept at a rather low profile, especially in modern conflict where sensitivities seem so much more focussed. Is is a sad but inevitable consequence of the rush of a battle. And of course your own book revealed the likely truth behind Bader’s shooting down.

And some who reported shooting down a He113 actually shot down Hurricanes. But perhaps best not to go there….!

Suffice to say that there were a good many more “friendly fire” episodes over that period that one might imagine.

Was reading Spitfire pilot combat reports from the BoB just the other day and was similarly bemused – especially puzzled that some pilots had reported engaging both Bf-109s and He-113s in the same engagement.

Asked my Dad and he described it as an ‘old chestnut’…

As Mr. McKay says – a dozen or less built and used for propoganda purposes (and point defence of the Heinkel factory according to my Dad).

He also seems to remember that there was an issue with Goering or the powers that be insisting that it be fitted with a different engine (Jumo?) and Mr Heinkel being unable or unwilling to accomodate this request.

Chances of any participating in the BoB – slim. Heat of battle misidentification or did some pilots want to believe that they’d shot down a He-113 – touted by German propoganda as the fighter of it’s day??

Creaking Door’s post reminded me of a tale Jeff West of 616 Squadron told me about his squadron’s first encounter with the Fw 190. They had not seen one before and had no idea what they were. They concluded from the radial engines that they were captured Curtis Hawks. “This will be easy!” thought Jeff. An enforced bale-out into the Channel moments later was a nasty shock!!

I suspect that there was a great deal of misindentification on both sides in the anticipation of a confrontation, perhaps in poor visibility, light playing tricks, aircraft disappearing in and out of cloud, added to the inevitable everyday stress.

One interesting story about aircraft (mis)identification is that Luftwaffe bomber crews reported being attacked by the Curtis Hawk 75 during the Battle-of-Britain. No doubt these aircraft had been encountered over France but it is difficult to see how these aircraft could have easily been mistaken for a Spitfire or Hurricane (combat stress aside).

If Luftwaffe crews could make this mistake without any help from the RAF is it any wonder that RAF pilots saw the He113 everywhere after the idea was ‘planted’ by the Luftwaffe and reinforced by the Air Ministry?

No doubt the ‘secret’ hinted at in the video is the truth we all know!

BTW, uploaded by the author in this case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTAp__8Bui8

A half dozen or so were built and done up as “fighters” prewar for propaganda shots. That’s all, it was actually better in many repects to the 109 at the time but Heinkel wasn’t flavour of the month with the RLM.

Wrong title should be

“He-113 In Action”..

Or actually

He-113 Inaction

Can’t wait for his next book on the Messerschmitt Jaguar :rolleyes:

Peter

“….true-life (his words!) stories of aliens and UFOs…..” Something of an oxymoron in that sentence I think.;)

I have seen the trailer on YouTube, and it did cross my mind that perhaps it was an over the top sales pitch for a book that could be quite an illuminating read.
On the other hand, looking at the author’s own website www.rupertmatthews.com, although he has written other aviation stuff, he is nothing if not versatile. His list of published titles is formidably long, covering everything from true-life (his words!) stories of aliens and UFOs to dictionaries of dinosaurs and anthologies of bomber command heroes. At a very quick guess from his site I’d reckon he’s written about 300 books.
Good luck to him and anyone else toiling away as a writer, but I doubt if he’s done much original research on the He100/He113 (delete as appropriate).

It’s always worth doing a forum search.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58335&

Moggy

Did it fly in the BoB – could it have reached England??

There’s a You-Tube trailer at loose somewhere. Though the voiceover is a tad on the geeky side and the script gives little away I get the impression that the book is well aware that the aircraft was more myth than metal.

Wiki poses the interesting question, just who was the propaganda supposed to impress and to what effect?

Moggy

From the publisher’s website: Bretwalda Books is a publisher based in England that concentrates on history, folklore and travel books.

Folklore just about sums it up, I suspect:)