In another thread, AndyG mentioned some damage inflicted to one of RAF Lossiemouth’s hangars during a German raid on the station during WW2.
Here’s a transcript of the 1940 incident from ‘A Steep Turn to the Stars’:-
‘On 26th October Lossiemouth received its baptism of fire when three Heinkel 111s made a surprise dusk attack on the airfield. Two Heinkels came in low from the north east and bombed a line of Blenheims which were being prepared for night flying. A third Heinkel attacked from the south using machine guns but no bombs. One of the Heinkels crashed, brought down either by the explosion of its own bombs or the station Hispano gun. Like many similar incidents the exact circumstances will never be known. The four German crew were killed and are buried in Lossiemouth churchyard. The RAF losses were one officer and two airmen killed and others injured. Two Blenheims were destroyed and three damaged, and damage was also incurred by two Magisters, two Moths, and a Hurricane. Three hangars were slightly damaged…’
I was lucky enough to inspect the damage to Hanger 21 this morning, courtesy of Sgt James Lye, 202 Sqn, who even shut the doors slightly so I could get some exterior shots.
Whatever caliber of rounds made these ~40mm holes, some have gone straight through two layers of 1/2″ steel plate, and there are plenty of them! The exterior holes have been patched with steel plate.
By: Walrus75 - 2nd March 2011 at 15:41
Did you notice the damage to the door stanchion, the skin above the doors and also damage to metal window frames on the inside of the hangar above the annexe?
Sadly there are no panels to get to the inside of the doors close to the impact points otherwise I’d have been in there years ago :D.
Don’t suppose James mentioned the resident ghost in that corner of the hangar did he? Back in the 90’s the section Safety Equippers were housed in that area and they reported ‘a presence’ a number of times – to the point where one of the girls wouldn’t work in there on nights if she was alone (and she wasn’t the kind of person to bulls**t TBH). It always a lot colder in that corner than anywhere else in the hangar :diablo:
I was always led to believe that the He111 crashed about 70-100 yards away from that end of the hangar but it was only word of mouth.
PS Su, the GEF mob moved out about 4 years ago, into the old Tornado Propulsion Flight when that closed down, and 202 have got the place to themselves nowadays.
PPS. 202 have been operating off the base of the demolished hangar, K20, for the past 4 weeks or so whilst the aircraft wash area and taxiway up to their disperal was being resurfaced.
By: Al - 25th May 2010 at 07:38
There is a reference to this attack in ‘The Battle of Britain, Then and Now’, which details the crashed aircraft as Heinkel He 111H-3 Wkn 6854 of 1/KG26 coded 1H+BL.
This is H-3 1H+EK from the same KG…
By: Al - 29th April 2010 at 17:45
This isn’t one of the hangars that is being demolished?
[QUOTE=AndyG;1573135]Is this one of the hangars coming down?
No, the 202 Sqn Sgt thought not…
Well done that man!!!
Last pic shows a round that didn’t quite make it through the 2nd layer, wonder if the round is still lurking within the door structure? (that’s if there is a floor to it as such)
It looks like there is a floor to the doors, to take the wheels etc…Any idea if the patched holes are all the same calibre?
Looking through the holes from the inside, the ones I checked at the bottom had a similar sized holes straight through.As several of the rounds have penetrated down to almost ground level, this would perhaps rule out an accidental own goal by local airfield defenses, especially if the negative depression required of the weapon was not available.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out the attacking aircraft may have gunned an aircraft sitting outside, or just inside the hangar, spraying up and down to get the target. I would have thought a station AA would have been more side to side…
By: AndyG - 28th April 2010 at 23:50
Well done that man!!!
Last pic shows a round that didn’t quite make it through the 2nd layer, wonder if the round is still lurking within the door structure? (that’s if there is a floor to it as such)
Any idea if the patched holes are all the same calibre?
As several of the rounds have penetrated down to almost ground level, this would perhaps rule out an accidental own goal by local airfield defenses, especially if the negative depression required of the weapon was not available.
Is this one of the hangars coming down?
Thanks again.
By: Creaking Door - 28th April 2010 at 23:49
This isn’t one of the hangars that is being demolished?
By: Al - 28th April 2010 at 23:10
Interior….
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April 28, 2010 at 11:08 pm