1940-07-20 13:45 Haringvliet (scheelhoek) Blenheim IV R3738 110 Sqdn S/Ldr J.F.Stephens

In the night of 19 on July 20, eighty-nine bombers of Bomber Command conducted missions on numerous targets in Germany and in the occupied territories including Schiphol, Waalhaven and the airport on the island of Texel.

The daylight operations of Bomber Command asked again for attacks on the airports in the occupied coastal regions of the low countries One Blenheim (T1848) of No.40 Squadron - Plt.Off. Best - his mission was to Hingene airport Aborting due to insufficient cloud cover and shifted therefore, to the airport from Flushing to shed its bomb load.

Ten Blenheims of No.110 Squadron Started on a mission to bomb targets in Germany - they had to abandon the mission for the same reasons. One plane was intercepted on the return flight by Messerschmitt of 6. / JG 54 and shot down.

Saturday 20th. July

Blenheim R3738 of 110 Squadron, Wattisham, failed to return from a sortie to Lunen. It was later reported to have been shot down near Rotterdam by I./JG54. The crew of Squadron Leader J.F. Stephens, Sergeant E.C.Parker and Sergeant J.V. West DFM was posted as missing. Two Blenheims were claimed by II./JG54 in this area, one by Unteroffizier Oswald Frauendorf of 6 Staffel.

Source: Other few, The contribution made by Bomber and coastal aircrew to the winning of the battle of Britain by Larry Donnelly DFM. ISBN 0-9546201-2-7

Day Raid Sheets Bomber Command (20/07)

--//-- Bomb Raid No.403 – One Blenheim of No.40 squadron attacked Flushing aerodrome between 07.15 and 07.20 hours from 10.000 feet and inwhich 2 x 250 lbs, 6 x 40 lbs and 60 x 4 lbs incendiaries were dropped. Results could not be observed.

Marine Artillerie Abteilung 202 (20/07)

--//-- Nachts starker feindlicher Flugverkehr.

--//-- Nach heftiger Detonation in Richtung von 80° (der 1. Batterie) starke Brandwirkung in See. Dauer bis 0230 Uhr.

Hafenkommandantur Vlissingen

0430 (19/07) Boot 822 der Hafenschutzflottille eingelaufen und Boot 824 ausgelaufen.

1530 (19/07) Einflug feindlicher Flieger.

--//-- (19/07) Ein Flugzeug durch Jagdgeschwader Vlissingen abgeschossen!i

0830 (20/07) Einflug feindlicher Maschinen.

--//-- (20/07) In der Nähe des Flugplatzes wurden vier Bomben geworfen, wobei zwei

Holländer getötet.

1420 (20/07) Boot 823 der Hafenschutzflottille zum Außenhafen verholt.

Das Bataillon 23/IV/XI

--//-- Fast über eine Woche war es dann ruhig! Nur des nachts flogen feindliche Flugzeuge in großer Höhe in Richtung Deutschland ein, um gegen Morgen in ebenso großer Höhe wieder zurückzufliegen.

Da kam in der neunten Vormittagsstunde des 2. Juli ein neuer Angriff! Er galt der Bauleitung, in derer unmittelbarer Nähe vier Bomben geworfen wurden, die zwar keinen Materialschaden anrichteten, jedoch einen Holländer töteten und ein Kind schwer verletzten.

Bristol Blenheim R3738

Of the twenty-six Blenheims that Bomber Command had scrambled for the mission twenty-five returned empty-handed.

After possibly dropping its bombs at Flushing Airport R3738 was attachked and hit above Goeree and Overflakkee and was shot down by two Bf109 of 6. / JG 54..

The plane crashed at 13:45. in the Haringvliet at Scheelhoek. Of the three man crew two never were found and the third EC Sgt Parker was taken prisoner. Parker has spent his captivity in POW Camp Stalag POW Luft3 No. 190.

Sqn.Ldr. John Frank Stephens mia Runnymede Memorial Panel 4

Sgt. James Victor West mia Runnymede Memorial Panel 20

Sgt. EC Parker pow Stalag Luft III Sagan

The air victory was awarded to Uffz. Oswald Frauendorfii of 6. / JG 54.iii

Bibliography: GJ Zwanenburg CWGC Master

i In all likelihood ​​a mistake was made in the KTB, the message relates to the crash of a Blenheim on July 20, 1940! This error can only be explained by the fact that the KTB was not updated the same day but later (sometimes many days later).

Ii Uffz. Frauendorf himself came already on September 2, 1940 after a midair collision near Calais killed.

Iii Manuscript Heinrich Weiß calls Lt. Rolf von Aspern and Fw. Max Stotz - both of 4. / JG 54 .

Claim

20-07-40 00:00 "n.n." "II." "JG 54" "Blenheim" "Rotterdam" "13.30" "-" 84 "yes" "OKL" "Prien/Bock"

20-07-40 00:00 "Uffz." "Oswald" "Frauendorf" 06-11-09 "JG 54" "Blenheim" "Rotterdam" "13.45" " 1st" 85 "yes" "OKL" "Prien/Bock"

German pilot

Frauendorf, Oswald Uffz 1 6/JG-54 Bf 109E-1 Werk# 6225 (lost) EK 2, Fighter Operational Clasp KIA 2 September, 1940 in a collision with a Bf 109E-4, Werk# 1940 flown by Oblt Elsing, over Calais France. One known victory, his 1st, a Blenheim at Rotterdam on 20 July, 1940.

Blenheim R3738 Information

Further Information

"Serial Range R3590 - R3919. One of a batch of 250 Bristol Type 142L, Blenheim Mk.1V built by Rootes Securities. R3590-3639; R3660-3709; R3730-3779; R3800-3849; R3870-3919. R3263 and R3830 to Portugese Air Force, September 1943. R3877 to Free French Forces,

August 1940. Airborne from Wattisham to bomb the aerodrome at Vlissingen. Believed to have crashed into the sea, cause not established. the two airmen killed are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

S/L J.F.Stephens KIA

Sgt E.C.Parker PoW

Sgt J.V.West, DFM KIA

Sgt E.C.Parker was interned in Camps L1/L3, PoW No.190. His DFM was Gazetted 30Jul40. "

Haringvlietdam (source: VoorneWiki)

The Scheelhoek is a nature reserve on the North shore of Goeree-Overflakkee in South Holland. This bird sanctuary is situated on the edge of Stellendam, between Zuiderdiep and Haringvliet. The Scheelhoek arose around 1870 as a bare triangular sandbank. There formed a swallow beach and a narrow strip of incipient dunes on the northern edge.

On February 13, 1957 the construction of a dyke for the pit in which the locks for the Haringvlietdam were built. This lock complex is located on the south side of the Haringvliet near the scheelhoek. While working dredgers stumbled on the wreck of a British bomber, which had supposedly crashed in June 1940. The wreckage was excavated after the four bombs were defused by explosion. This would indicate that the plane never dropped its bombload on the Flushing airport.

It is unclear to which the plane this is. I seem to remember that material is present at the Regional VPR archives stating that the aircraft would have been a Hampden. More likely it is the Blenheim above that was lost in that same area. Strange that in the list of the RNLAF Storage Service ​​no mention is amde of this excavation. It seems unlikely that they would not have been involved.

No. 110 "Hyderbad" Squadron served in two very different roles during the Second World War. At the start of the war it was a day bomber squadron, equipped with the Blenheim IV. In this role the squadron took part in some of the earliest bombing raids of the war, against the German fleet. It then moved to Scotland to attack German held airfields during the invasion of Norway, before moving south to attack German troops during the battle of France.

During the period when a German invasion was expected, No. 110 Squadron took part in the attacks on the German invasion barges, before moving on to attack airfields and industrial targets. In July 1941 a detachment was sent to Malta, operating from Luqa for most of the month.

In March 1942 the squadron transferred to India, ferrying its Blenheims out at the same time, but then spending several months waiting for the arrival of the Vultee Vengeance. Even after the arrival of this dive bomber in October 1942, the squadron did not enter combat over Burma until March 1943.

In May 1944 the squadron was withdrawn to convert to the Mosquito, but once again a long gap followed, and the first Mosquito FB.VIs did not arrive until November 1944. In the meantime a detachment was sent to the Gold Coast with some of the unneeded Vengeances, to carry out mosquito-spraying experiments.

Mosquito operations finally began on 31 March 1945, and from then until the end of the war the squadron operated against Japanese targets in Burma. At the end of the war the squadron moved to Singapore, and remained active in the Far East until April 1946.

Aircraft

June 1939-March 1942: Bristol Blenheim IV

October 1942-December 1944: Vultee Vengeance I, IA and II

June 1944-January 1945: Vultee Vengeance III, IV

November 1944- April 1945: De Havilland Mosquito FB.VI

Location

11 May 1939-17 March 1942: Wattisham

19 April-2 May 1940: Detachment to Lossiemouth

16 February-15 March 1941: Detachment to Horsham St. Faith

26 May-9 June 1941: Detachment to Manston

4-28 July 1941: Detachment to Luqa (Malta)

15-20 September 1941: Detachment to Lindholme

23-28 December 1941: Detachment to Lossiemouth

17 March 1942: Departs for India

19 May-5 June 1942: Karachi

5 June-11 October 1942: Quetta

6 September-10 December 1942: Detachment to Karachi

11-31 October 1942: Pandaveswar

6 December-13 June 1943: Madhaiganj

17-24 March 1943: Detachment to Dohazari

12-31 May 1943: Detachment to Chittagong

13 June-15 October 1943: Digri

24 July-16 August 1943: Detachment to Ranchi

27 July-22 September 1943: Detachment to Amarda Road

15 October 1943-5 June 1944: Kumbhirgram

1-5 June 1944: Detachment to Allahabad

5 June-6 October 1944: Kalyanpur

24 August-7 December 1944: Takoradi

6-26 October 1944: Kolar

26 October 1944-22 May 1945: Yelahanka

11-16 March 1945: Detachment to Joari

22 May-16 August 1945: Kinmagan

16 August-22 September 1945: Hmawbi

10 September-October 1945: Detachment to Kallang/ Seletar

Squadron Codes: AY, VE

Group and Duty

26 September 1939: Bomber squadron with No.2 Group, 83 Wing Force

1939-1942: Bomber squadron, UK

1942-1944: Dive Bomber squadron, Burma

1944-1945: Mosquito bomber squadron, Burma

Source: Rickard, J (15 April 2008), No. 110 Squadron (RAF): Second World War, http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/110_wwII.html

Jagdgeschwader 54

source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) Grünherz (Green Hearts) was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during the Second World War. It was known as the Green Hearts Wing, and it was the second highest scoring wing of all time, JG 52 being the highest. JG 54 flew on the Eastern Front, racking up over 9,600 kills, with aces such as Walter Nowotny, Otto Kittel, Freiherr Peter Grunhertz, Hans "Phips" Philipp, Gunther Lutzow, Emil "Bully" Lang (Lang holds the record for most kills in a day,18), Helmuth Osterman, Dietrich Hrabak, Werner Schroer and Hannes Trautloft being the most famous Experten.

Having enjoyed initial success over the Channel and South-east England during the summer of 1940, the unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 for Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union. JG 54 would remain a Jagdwaffe stalwart in the east, flying firstly Bf 109Fs and then the Fw 190.

JG 54 was known for its non-standard camouflage schemes. For example, Bf-109F-4's on the Leningrad front 1941–42 were painted in black-green/dark-green splinter finish with yellow under cowling and under the wing tips.

Formation

I./JG 54 was initially formed as I./JG 70 near Nürnberg in July 1939. As was to become tradition within the "Grünherzgeschwader", the Gruppe took the Nürnberg coat-of-arms (a vertically divided shield with a black heraldic bird on the left, and red and white diagonal stripes on the right) to represent the region the unit came from. On September 15, 1939, I./JG 70 was redesignated I./JG 54.

The initial unit designation for II./JG 54 was I./JG 138. This unit was raised in 1938 after the Austrian annexation. Thus many Austrian nationals were recruited when I./JG 138 was formed. I./JG 138 was briefly designated I./JG 76 before finally becoming II./JG 54 on April 6, 1940.

III./JG 54 has its roots in Prussia. Initially raised as I./JG 21, the members were drawn from the Jesau region in Prussia. On July 15, 1939, I./JG 21 was redesignated III./JG 54. However, the bureaucratic nature of the young Luftwaffe was such that it was over a year before records would reflect the new designation. Thus III./JG 54 fought in Poland and France as I./JG 21.

Wartime History

Polish Campaign

JG 54 first saw combat in the fall of 1939 in the offensive against Poland. II/JG 54 and III/JG 54 saw combat, while I/JG 54 remained stationed in Herzogenaurach. Equipped with BF 109Ds their operations consisted of ground attack, air superiority and escorting Stukas. Several pilots of JG 54 were awarded decorations during this campaign.

Campaign in the West

After the success in Poland JG 54 was transferred back, on October 9, 1939, to Germany, occupying airfields in the west and south. Before the invasion of France, during a period known as Sitzkrieg, they operated mainly in an air defence role. Flying routine sweeps up to the French border, contact was limited to small skirmishes with French or British reconnaissance planes. The Geschwader began to field BF 109Es at this time as well.

The Battle of France broke out on May 10, 1940. The Luftwaffe operated by advancing in front of the German army to destroy French airfields and industrial complexes. JG 54's role was to escort the bombers (Stukas and Heinkel He 111s mostly)) and to conduct fighter sweeps in French airspace in order to maintain air superiority. These roles were maintained throughout the operations at Dunkirk against the evacuating British Expeditionary Force. During the period May 10 to June 21 (until their transfer to Holland and the capitulation of France) JG 54 claimed 17 aircraft, according to JG 54 documentation.

Before the Battle of Britain the Geschwader were again transferred, this time to Holland. The principal reasons for the transfer were the reequipping of the unit and giving the pilots a chance to rest before air defence operations continued against British bombers. In a particularly devastating raid on the Soesterberg airfield, III/JG 54 suffered heavy ground crew and equipment losses. While in Holland they claimed another 21 aircraft (20 Blenheim Bombers and 1 Supermarine Spitfire)

The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain began in late July/early August, with the goal of destroying the RAF a prerequsite before a land invasion of Britain. The three JG 54 Gruppen were transferred to airfields near Calais on August 6, 1940. Over the next months JG 54 would experience the most hostile fighting environment they had yet encountered. Dissatisfied with the fighter arm's performance, Göring's subsequent purge of the older peace-time Jagdgeschwader commanders in mid 1940 resulted in Major Hannes Trautloft being placed in command of JG 54, replacing Major Mettig. Serving in that capacity until July 1943, Trautloft was a natural leader and left an indelible mark on JG 54 and was regarded as a leader who cared for his men. Trautloft also devised the 'Green Heart' emblem of JG 54, adopting the regional emblem of his birth place in Thüringen ('The green heart of Germany')

The Battle of Britain would prove to be costly for both the Luftwaffe and JG 54. The Geschwader lost 43 pilots; 40 percent of the pilots they entered the battle with. The 3 staffel itself went from 12 pilots to 2 by the end of the Battle. JG 54 however claimed some 238 enemy aircraft destroyed. The first Knight's Cross or Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes were awarded to JG 54 during the battle as well, a total of 3 being presented. The Knight's Cross was given upon achieving 20 victories, and was first awarded to Hauptmann Dietrich Hrabak, Kommandeur II/JG 54, on October 21.

Aftermath of Britain and The Balkans

After the Luftwaffe's defeat, the three gruppen were all assigned to separate locations once again. I/JG 54 was assigned as a subordinate of JG 1 from [September 27], 1940 until May 1941; II/JG 54 was given winter's rest from December 3, 1940, until January 23, 1941 at Delmenhorst airfield; III/JG 54 was put on a similar rest after a short lived air defense role in Holland. II/JG54 and III/JG 54 served briefly in France at Le Mans and Cherbourg. They provided air protection over Normandy, but due to quiet conditions much of the unit's time was devoted to training. On March 29, 1941 Stab, II, and III/JG 54 were relocated to the Balkans. Conducting mostly ground attack operations on locomotives and rolling stock, they also encountered Yugoslavian BF 109Ds that had been purchased from Germany prior to hostilities. After the defeat of Yugoslavia, JG 54 traded in their Emil(109-E) model 109s for the more modern Franz(109-F) models. Reunited with I/JG 54 the unit was transferred into Prussia to begin training and preparations for Operation Barbarossa.

The Eastern Front

Maintaining a Bf 109 of JG 54, August 1941

Bf 109 of JG 54 on the Russian front, August 1942

Claiming 45 kills on the first day, JG 54 served on the Northern Front during the invasion of Soviet Russia on 22 June 1941 as part of the Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 1, and would remain on that part of the Eastern Front for most of its existence. The Finnish, Baltic & Leningrad Fronts were far more static in nature than other Eastern Front theatres, leading to a more stable existence for JG 54 operations, although the severe cold during the winters of 1941-44 would constantly hamper fighter operations. JG 54's operations for 1941-43 had essentially a twofold objective; to keep pressure upon the beleaguered Leningrad sector, and to reduce Soviet pressure on the Lake Ilmen area at the German flank.

By 18 July the Geschwader had chalked up its 500th Soviet air claim, and on 1 August became the third Geschwader to claim 1,000 air kills. In the period 22 June - 5 December 1941 the unit destroyed 1,078 Soviet aircraft in return for 46 losses in aerial combat and a single fighter on the ground.

Trautloft instituted the successful tactic of intercepting Soviet nuisance raiders on moonlit nights, and JG 54 claimed 56 kills in January-July 1942 while suffering no losses on these interceptions. In February 1942 alone JG 54 claimed 201 kills for 18 pilots killed. The 2,000 kill came on 4 April 1942 by Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Klemm.

JG 54 received its first Focke Wulf Fw 190's in February 1943, and on February 23, 1943, JG 54 claimed its 4,000 kill. On 7 March 1943 the unit claimed 59 aircraft shot down in one day. During 1943 a schwarm of 1./JG 54 became the most successful formation of its type in the Luftwaffe; Hpt. Walter Nowotny (257 kills), Uzz Karl Schnörrer (46), Lt Anton Döbele (94) and Lt Rudolf Rademacher(126) amassed 500 air victories between them in 1943-1944.

Trautloft left JG 54 in July 1943 when General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland asked him to join his staff as Inspizient Ost. (He ended the war with 57 victories and the Knight's Cross.) After his departure JG 54 continued operating on the Northern Front, and their victory tally rose continuously. The 7,000 JG 54 claim was made on 23 March 1944, with the 8,000 mark passed on 15 August.

I.,II. and IV./ JG 54 ended the war fighting around the Baltic region, supporting the troops of Army Group North through Latvia and Estonia, and into theCourland Pocket of East Prussia. JG 54 could never hope to regain air superiority against the mounting number of Russian aircraft. The Russians never defeated Army Group North, which held out until the last day of the war, surrendering 210,000 Germans to the Soviets in Courland.

The remaining serviceable FW-190's were ordered fly to Flensburg on the Danish border, with the German Navy evacuating as many of the ground personnel as possible by ship. The JG 54 pilots, led by Oberst Dietrich Hrabak, ripped out all unnecessary equipment from the fighters, allowing room to take two men, one man crouching behind the seat and the other fitting into the fuselage. In this way at least 90 JG 54 personnel escaped Russian capture.

Partial regrouping to the Western Front

In February 1943 III./JG 54 was transferred back to the west for operations against the RAF and USAAF. At first they were to operate as stand alone BF 109 unit, but later were attached to JG 26. Intensive training in the more rigorous techniques of fighting on the Western Front were only partly successful, and Oberst Josef Priller, Geschwaderkommodore of JG 26 and charged with III gruppe's training, refused to declare the gruppe operational. III Gruppe transferred to North Germany as a result, supporting Jagdgeschwader 1. The gruppe would take several losses before acclimatising to the new theatre; two experienced III gruppe experten - Hpt Gunther Fink and Lt. Friedrich Rupp - would be killed in action on 15 May alone. III./JG 54 would remain in the west for the rest of the war.

During the autumn of 1944, III./JG 54 was the first Luftwaffe unit to be supplied with the new Fw 190 D-9 "Dora". The D-9s were used in base defence missions for the Me 262 jets of Kommando Nowotny, and later over North-West Europe. 68 operational aircraft were available early in December, but such were the heavy losses sustained that the gruppe was disbanded soon after. Hpt. 'Bazi' Weiß,(121 kills), the Gruppenkommandeur, and 12 other pilots were killed by RAF fighters on 29 December 1944 alone.

At the end of 1944 Zerstorer Geschwader ZG 76 was disbanded and its pilots formed the nucleus of a new III./JG 54. Operating from Muncheberg, near Berlin, the unit's Fw 190s saw intensive action against Russian ground targets such as road and rail supply columns, flak positions, armour and the bridges across the River Oder. A few weeks before the war ended, the depleted III./JG 54 was disbanded, being absorbed into JG 26.

Although Luftwaffe documentation were destroyed at the end of the war surviving records indicate JG 54 lost 501 pilots killed in action and 242 pilots missing, with 40 aircrew POW. Total losses in aircraft were approximately 1071 Bf 109 and 746 FW 190.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-390-1220-21, Russland, Flugzeug Me 109 des JG 54, Wartung.jpg