I bought this on eBay a while back and the story that came with it was that it was:
“Taken on 14 October 1940 from a Dornier Do215 that was shot-down and crashed in St Neots.”
There was some additional information regarding the actual engagement:
“It was intercepted and shot down over St Neots by Hurricanes of RAF Number 1 and 17 Squadrons. Red Section of RAF Number 1 Squadron were ordered to intercept and F/L M H Brown, P/O A V Clowes and P/O A Kershaw sighted the Dornier 3,000 feet above cloud. As a result the Dornier was brought down at St Neots. All three RAF pilots expressed the opinion that the aircraft did not make good use of cloud cover before the attack and the only evasive action taken was diving into the clouds.”
So can anybody identify the aircraft, the crew or the date when it was shot-down?
(Obviously the modern crocodile-clip is not from the aircraft; I just wanted to see if it still worked!)
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 17:16
I’ll bet there will be some to still be found in that field.
By: Creaking Door - 30th January 2013 at 17:15
It is of very great interest…..even though I now know I don’t have a piece of that aircraft!
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 16:34
Ah….the corrected date now makes sense!
It enabled me to go to my German aircraft crash photograph collection and immediately go to the series of images from this incident. Here is a scan of an original sepia toned image from my collection.
There are about 3,000 images (all filed in date order) so without the correct date it was pretty much impossible.
Hope this of interest!
By: Creaking Door - 30th January 2013 at 16:10
I have also been unable to trace or confirm the details you supply of the shot down aircraft it is said to originate from.
Can you re-check date etc?
I’ve tracked-down where the combat-report comes from; Do215B (0060) L2+KS was on a photo-reconnaissance sortie to Coventry when it was shot-down on Thursday 24th October 1940. The aircraft came down in a shallow dive ‘behind the Crown Inn at Eaton Socon’ The crew baled-out very low and only one of them Gefreiter M Dorr survived (badly injured); the other three crew Leutnant E Meyer, Unteroffizier E Hofmann and Unteroffizier H Broening were all killed when their parachutes failed to open in time.
I pass the Crown Inn quite often as it is on my way to Duxford (although the field behind now has a Premier Inn, amongst other things, built on it) – Strange to think that a random relic of an American aircraft may remind me that three men died behind that inn at the end of the Battle-of-Britain.
Unlikely I know, given that the original information proved to be false, but I wonder if there is any likely candidate for an American aircraft crashing nearby?
By: |RLWP - 30th January 2013 at 13:07
Spitfire?
Richard
😀
By: Creaking Door - 30th January 2013 at 11:52
Well, that was what I was expecting to be honest; there isn’t anything remotely German about it. I’ll add it to my growing pile of German aircraft relics (all Dornier, strangely) that turn out to be from American aircraft!
Anybody know what American aircraft it could be from?
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 11:41
I would expect there to be a FL nummer, though, surely?
If it has one of those then I might be a little more convinced.
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 11:20
American equipment
There was American equipment on some German war time aircraft but it was stuff produced under licence. The inertia starter is one example and carried a prominent label stating Eclipse Licence on it, but otherwise standard German labelling.
Anon.
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 11:16
Most certainly could not have originated from the “Do215”. In truth, I have also been unable to trace or confirm the details you supply of the shot down aircraft it is said to originate from.
Can you re-check date etc? However….not from a German aircraft and that is 100% for sure.
By: Bruce - 30th January 2013 at 11:13
No, there would not have been American equipment on a Dornier. The German electrical component industry was prolific, and very good; they wouldnt have seen any reason to import parts from America.
Bruce
By: Creaking Door - 30th January 2013 at 11:07
Well spotted everybody…..that was the other part of the mystery! 😀
It is American; so, the question is, would a piece of United States equipment have been fitted to a Do215 in (or before) 1940?
I’m guessing that the answer is probably ‘no’ but it did occur to me that at that time America was still neutral. This is probably just another aircraft relic that has become separated from its history (or been mixed up with another relic), but the seller stated that it was recovered by a member of his family (and on a particular day).
The label states: ANTI ICER PUMP – ECLIPSE AVIATION (which seems to be a division of BENDIX Aviation).
There doesn’t seem to be a date stamped anywhere on it unless the ‘type’ number 744 is a clue?
Oh yes, and it still works fine (on 12volts not 24volts anyway)!
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th January 2013 at 10:40
As Ian said, it doesn’t look very Germanic.
What does the label say?
By: Rocketeer - 30th January 2013 at 10:32
Is it a transducer? Tacho gen……converting cam shaft speed to an electrical signal for a electrical RPM? Sorry, lost for proper techy words today!
By: ian_ - 30th January 2013 at 10:30
And did it still work? The electrical connector looks a bit American to me! Could you take a close up of the label as that would help.
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January 30, 2013 at 12:46 am