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Do17

Do-17-Hurricane-1200x800-1

A Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber was rammed by an RAF Hurricane pilot, which saved Buckingham Palace

by Till Daisd May 25, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The Do 17’s unarmed bombs dropped over London as it disintegrated. One of the two 50-kilogram bombs that were dropped on the grounds of Buckingham Palace landed on the grass

The following story originally appeared on Wing Leader Books Facebook page. Be sure to check out their website too!

Sep. 15, 1940.

One of the most recognizable scenes from “The Battle” is when a Dornier and a Hurricane collide over Buckingham Palace on “Battle of Britain Day.” The heroic actions of the daring pilot who saved Buckingham Palace from the German bomber were reported widely in national publications as the falling planes were caught on camera from the ground. Even the 1969 movie “The Battle of Britain” featured a scene based on the occurrence.

Winston Churchill and his wife visited Air Vice Marshal Keith Park’s headquarters at Uxbridge. Churchill’s visit had no significance; he was merely “just passing” and thought to drop by. Winston clutched his unlit cigar between his teeth as Keith Park took his visitors down the stairs to the operations room, which was 50 feet below ground. Winston was politely informed by Keith Park that the ventilation system could not handle the smoke from his cigar as events unfolded.

There had been a break in activity for more than a week before Park was informed that an all-out attack was imminent. He is reported to have said as he ordered each of his squadrons to take off, “This, I think is what we have been waiting for. I think that it is about to happen.”

The scene was set for an epic battle.

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — Sgt Ray Holmes on the wing of a Hurricane.

Once the enemy forces were mapped out on the operations table, squadrons were brought to Stand By one at a time, then Readiness. Twenty-three fighter squadrons had taken to the air before lunchtime. London was in for a “pasting” since Park knew his pilots could not withstand the enemy attack’s size.

Oberleutnant Robert Zehbe of the bomber unit 1/KG76, age 27, was piloting one of the Dornier 17s. Zehbe’s crew had executed numerous attacks successfully, including those on Kenley on August 18 and London on September 7, but this time wasn’t going as well for them. They started to fall behind the formation as a result of a malfunctioning engine, which put them in a precarious situation because fighter pilots loved to pick off stragglers.

Heading back toward home was a riskier choice because an injured bomber flying by itself across Kent’s skies was a sitting duck. As the first fighter strike occurred just south of London, they were 500 yards behind the formation. After starting the Dornier’s port engine on fire with his flight of the 310 (Czech) Squadron, Flight Lieutenant Jefferies let his less skilled Czech charges take a shot at the aircraft.

Further gunfire was fired at the helpless Dornier by pilots from the 609 and 504 squadrons who saw an opportunity for an easy kill. But, the aircraft continued to limp. Leo Hammermeister and Ludwig Armbruster, two of its crew members, bailed out at Sydenham and Dulwich, respectively. Six fighters were seen attacking repeatedly while crossing the Thames in Battersea. Ultimately, Robert Zehbe left the Dornier, leaving Gustav Hubel, his young gunner, either dead or gravely injured. Zehbe arrived at Kennington severely injured, where he was assaulted by locals before succumbing to his wounds.

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — Oblt. Zehbe’s Dornier, less tail and outer wings, falls on central London.

Sergeant Ray Holmes, age 26, was one of the assailants. The acts of Ray, sometimes known as “Arty” after his initial R-T, while flying a Hurricane from 504 Squadron above London would make him famous at the time and 64 years later.

The Pilot’s Story from War Illustrated

And now the pilot who brought the plane down at Victoria Station tells his side of the story. It was his first fight, and he’s a Sergeant Pilot from West Kirby, Cheshire. He had to parachute out after taking out the hostile machine. He stated:

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — The Dornier’s remains, outside Victoria Station.

“I was in the last section of my Squadron, and my Dornier victim took all that I had to give him. Bits flew off him and I broke away intending to turn and attack again. My wind¬screen was covered with black oil, and when I did attack again I think it must have been a different machine. Anyway, as soon as I fired a big flame shot up, and I must have got his petrol tanks.

“I broke away again and turned to make a head-on attack on another Dornier, firing a burst straight into its cockpit. At first, I thought a piece of the Dornier had flown off but then I saw it was a German baling out. I passed so near that I believe I touched the parachute.

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — Ray’s Hurricane plummets to earth.

“As I made my final attack, my right wing struck something. I went into a terrific spin. There was no response from my controls.

“I flung the hood back and struggled to get out. I must have been doing well over 400 m.p.h. when I finally got out of the cockpit. The wind was so strong it was like a piece of an airplane hitting me. People on the ground told me later that my parachute opened at only three hundred feet.

“I spun across a house in Chelsea, got my feet down on a gutter, slid down the roof, and fell into the garden on my back. Then two girls came up to me, and I was so glad to see them that I kissed them both.”

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — His Hurricane disappears behind the chimney pots of London. Ray was descending by parachute nearby. “I spun across a house in Chelsea, got my feet down on a gutter, slid down the roof, and fell into the garden on my back. Then two girls came up to me, and I was so glad to see them that I kissed them both.”

Ray Holmes landed in Hugh Street and, as soon he had his wits about him, he was born off to a pub in Pimlico Road by the locals for a stiff brandy.

As the Dornier broke up its bombs fell, unarmed, over London. Two 50-kilo bombs fell on the grounds of Buckingham Palace, one on the palace’s lawn. A shackle was found still attached to one of the bombs and was presented to the King. In the days before, several bombs had fallen on the palace and caused damage; now a bomber had been brought down within sight of it. Soon journalists had hold of the story and, in its re-telling, the story became embroidered and elaborated upon. Soon the hero fighter pilot had deliberately rammed the German moments before it dropped its deadly cargo on the Royal family – he had saved the King single-handed!

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — Almost nothing was visible of the Hurricane. With workmen rushing to repair a burst water main, there was no time or need to recover the wreckage. It lay under the traffic for 60 years.

Chris Bennett, a professional photographer, and artist, had long hypothesized that the Hurricane would have left behind some evidence beneath the road it had collided with, but because it is one of London’s busiest roads, recovering anything seemed nearly impossible.

The British broadcaster “Channel 5” was persuaded by the London-based TV production company Mentorn to air a spectacular excavation as “Fighter Dig Live” during prime time on a May holiday weekend. Later, it was turned into the National Geographic documentary “Search for the Lost Fighter Plane.”

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — The Hurricane’s Merlin engine, pulled from deep under Buckingham Palace Road.

Whether Ray’s ramming of the Dornier was deliberate or not, his courageous effort and remarkable survival are among the Battle of Britain‘s most enduring images and serve as a poignant reminder of September 15 as “Battle of Britain Day.”

Special thanks to Wing Leader Books Facebook page. CLICK HERE to check out their website.

Top image: Geoffrey Nutkins

Photo by unknown via Wing Leader Books Facebook page

The story of the RAF Hurricane pilot who rammed a Luftwaffe Do 17 bomber and saved Buckingham Palace — Ray Holmes at the Orange Brewery in Pimlico, having previously visited on the 15th of September 1940. Ray died from cancer on 27th June 2005. On the day he died, flags in the Wirral flew at half-mast in his honor and his widow, Anne, received a message from Buckingham Palace expressing the Queen’s sadness on hearing of his death.

May 25, 2023 0 comment

Defiant Do 17 1170x585 1

Why a Defiant ‘bomber formation destroyer’ didn’t shot down a RAF Museum Do 17

by Till Daisd January 27, 2023

written by Till Daisd

One particular assertion made by a Defiant crew of No. 264 Sqn, Do 17Z 5K+AR of 7./KG 3, shot down over the English Channel on August 26, 1940, has gained some attention in recent years. This aircraft, according to reports, was the one the RAF Museum recovered in 2013

The Air Ministry issued Specification F.9/35 in April 1935, requesting the development of a high-speed, two-seat day and night fighter with weapons housed in a power-operated turret. The P.82 suggestion by Boulton Paul of Norwich was one of the twelve responses. The P.82 design was accepted by the Air Ministry in April 1937, and 87 of the type were ordered.

On August 11, 1937, Cecil Feather piloted Boulton Paul’s prototype P8310, which had been given a Rolls-Royce Merlin III engine and given the new name Defiant. It was discovered to be a superb flying machine without any significant flaws. With its concentrated battery of four Browning 0.303-in. machine guns mounted in a power-operated turret behind the pilot, it was also remarkably stable for a gun platform.

The Defiant’s crucial turret made it uncommon for a single-engined fighter, as Andy Saunders explains in his book RAF Fighters Vs Luftwaffe Bombers, Battle of Britain; the aircraft was planned very much as a “bomber formation destroyer.” While common wisdom could lead us to conclude that this was a design concept that was hopelessly out of date for current air combat, it was unquestionably not as poorly thought out as many historians have since noted. These claims obviously resulted from its subpar performance during the Battle of Britain’s daylight combat, where it was shown to be no match for enemy fighters.

Only three production Defiants had been delivered by the time the conflict started. Nonetheless, there were 135 orders and more than 40 in service by January 1940. No. 264 Sqn was the first organization to receive the type in December 1939.

The tactical and strategic scenario for which the Defiant had been designed had vanished while it was in use. Now, in the summer of 1940, fighter aircraft like the Bf 109 and Bf 110 were within striking distance of southern Britain, and most bomber groups targeting the mainland were heavily escorted. So, if the Defiant was to perform as a bomber formation destroyer, it had to either breach a defensive fighter screen or cope with the Messerschmitts when they made an attack. Naturally, the gunner was always dependent on his pilot to maneuver the aircraft into the most advantageous offensive or defensive position.

If the bomber formations were unescorted or if the Defiants could avoid the fighter screen, they might have some success with some luck and a favorable wind. One particular assertion made by a Defiant crew of No. 264 Sqn, Do 17Z 5K+AR of 7./KG 3, shot down over the English Channel on August 26, 1940, has gained some attention in recent years. The Do 17Z that crashed on the Goodwin Sands was allegedly brought down in this combat by Plt Off Desmond Hughes and Sgt Fred Gash. As we’ve already mentioned, it’s been claimed that the aircraft was the same one that the RAF Museum recovered in 2013.

Hughes described the August 26 action, which took place at a height of 15,000 feet over the East Kent coastline, in his unpublished memoirs. He reported what happened after positioning his gunner for a strike from beneath the bombers:

Shedding light on a mystery: why RAF Museum Do 17 was not shot down by a Defiant ‘bomber formation destroyer’ — Goodwin Sands Dornier Do 17

‘The specks grew into the long pencil-slim silhouettes of Dornier 17s and suddenly there were the black crosses, insolently challenging us in our own backyard! Fred Gash took as his target the second Dornier and made no mistake – his De Wilde incendiaries twinkled all over it, but particularly on its engine. It began to fall out of the formation, the hatch was jettisoned, two parachutes streamed as little dark figures bailed out and the stricken aircraft went down increasingly steeply, with its starboard engine well alight.’

The Goodwin Sands aircraft was one of the two Dorniers that Hughes and Gash were credited with shooting down that day. Following the initial attack on the formation, a chaotic action resulted in the second triumph. Hughes wrote about this second achievement, ‘Fred had been blazing away at another Dornier’, which he later reported as having ‘brewed up’. The Defiants were then attacked by Bf 109s, and after shaking them off, Hughes and Gash headed back to base, where they discovered six bullet holes in their aircraft. That night, Hughes sent a telegram to his parents. It said, simply, ‘Two up and lots to play.’

In that operation, Hughes and Gash are credited with shooting down two Do 17s, one of which has since been speculatively “identified” as the Goodwin Sands plane. The latter, nevertheless, cannot be the one from which Hughes witnessed two crew members escape because that plane forced a landing on the sands with its crew still aboard. The fact that the recovered aircraft showed a bullet strike from dead astern in one of the propeller blades furthers the enigma.

Despite the fact that it is entirely plausible that other aircraft also had the bomber in their sights, this does not “fit” with Hughes’ angle of attack from below. Furthermore, it cannot be the one that Gash claims has “brewed up,” a term generally used to denote utter devastation brought on by fire and explosion.

In other words, the recovered Dornier has not yet produced any proof that it was the aircraft that crashed into the Goodwins on August 26, 1940. As we have shown, the aircraft touched down on the sands when the tide was low, where the infamously glutinous sand would have swiftly engulfed the bomber. In light of this, it is difficult to understand how the Dornier, assuming it is this one, came to be found on the seabed and on its back.

All in all, this instance adequately illustrates how difficult it is to link particular “kills” to particular airplanes. The inability of Defiant gunners to accurately determine what had happened to the aircraft they had fired upon was another challenge. The vulnerability of singleton bombers in the hostile skies above southern England in 1940 is equally well illustrated. The aircraft became separated from the formation after the crew lost their bearings, according to the RAF Intelligence Report on the crashed Dornier that landed on the Goodwin Sands, which includes details of the PoW questioning.

After that, fighters (plural) attacked them. Hughes’ claim that he had attacked a formation or group of Do 17s is refuted by evidence showing the Dornier was flying alone.

RAF Fighters Vs Luftwaffe Bombers, Battle of Britain is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Shedding light on a mystery: why RAF Museum Do 17 was not shot down by a Defiant ‘bomber formation destroyer’ — Boulton Paul Defiant

Photo by Crown Copyright

January 27, 2023 0 comment

Dornier Do 17 German Bomber

The German bomber Dornier Do-17 from WWII

by Till Daisd August 8, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The Goodwin Sands Dornier Do 17 hasn’t revealed its exact identity as of 2019

In both the bomber and reconnaissance roles, the Dornier Do 17 initially made an appearance as a military aircraft during the Spanish Civil War. Together with the Heinkel He 111, it served as the foundation for the German bomber arm over Poland at the outbreak of World War II. The Do 17 was also responsible for fulfilling the Luftwaffe‘s reconnaissance requirements. Before actively participating in bombing missions during the invasion of France, Belgium, and the Low Countries in May 1940, Do 17Ps did indeed perform these tasks during the “Phoney War.”

However, the Do 17 was ready to be replaced by the Junkers Ju 88 by the time the Battle of Britain began because of its limited range and small bomb load. Nevertheless, Do 17 units carried out a variety of sorties over southern England, some of which were against RAF fighter airfields at relatively low altitudes. Before moving to the Balkans and ultimately the Soviet Union, a number of units took part in the Blitz of 1940–1941. Even after switching to the Ju 88 or Do 217 at the very end of 1941, elements of the two bomber groups continued to fight on the Eastern Front.

By the end of the war, the ruins of Do 17s were all over the airfields in northwest Europe and the East, as Chris Goss explains in his book Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2. However, none of its variants, like so many other significant combat aircraft types of World War II, were ever preserved. But in 2013, things changed. Many airplanes were present on the Goodwin Sands, and local fishermen operating out of ports around the Kent coast were aware of this fact. In 2008, one such well-known wreck started slowly rising from the bottom and lying about 52 feet below the surface.

The plane was lying on its back and appeared to have two engines. A bomb bay was visible in the middle of the fuselage, indicating that the plane was a bomber.

The Mystery behind RAF Museum Dornier Do 17 World War II German Bomber

When side-scan sonar imagery of the wreck was taken in 2008–2009, it was immediately recognized as a Do 17Z. Dives on the wreck and multi-beam scan sonar imagery taken in 2011 later confirmed this. The last remaining Do 17 in the world is the “missing link” in the collection of Battle of Britain aircraft owned by the RAF Museum, which has experience in retrieving combat aircraft. But it wasn’t until May 3, 2013, that it was formally announced that the bomber would be raised, and the next day a floating rescue platform was placed over the disaster.

The RAF’s Air Historical Branch had spent more than three years planning, raising funds, and conducting research to get to this position. They thought the wreck was Do 17Z-2 Wk-Nr. 1160 5K-FAR of 7./KG 3, which was lost on August 26, 1940. When the wreck was lifted, it was unclear if munitions or human remains would be discovered.

In order to place a specially designed lightweight lifting frame around the wreckage, divers had done a thorough inspection of the aircraft. They found that the now-exposed aircraft had weathered the winter storms of 2012–2013. Conditions were always challenging on-site since tides only permitted 50–90 minutes of diving per day with an invisibility of no more than 16 feet. Divers discovered that several parts of the airframe were extremely delicate, something the RAF Museum had expected, which is why they built the specialized lifting structure. Depending on the weather and tides, it was anticipated that the recovery would take three to four weeks to complete.

The aircraft’s preservation began long before it was brought to the surface and ultimately to land. Given that the Do 17 had been submerged in seawater for more than 70 years, it would start corroding as soon as it was exposed to air. Eventually, the remains would disintegrate. Therefore, the RAF Museum proposed to put the aircraft in two specially constructed hydration tunnels at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, each measuring 65 nft × 23 ft and 11.5 foot in height.

The Mystery behind RAF Museum Dornier Do 17 World War II German Bomber

With 36 nozzles hanging from the ceiling and a moisture spray system, each tunnel was able to continuously soak the remnants. Each tunnel’s drainage system would distribute the water, which would then go through special filters before returning to a tank and being pumped back into the hydration tunnels. In order to carefully remove the salts and chemicals that had accumulated on the airframe over time without harming the paintwork or any of the parts inside the wings and the fuselage, a reading of the water would be obtained before it was recirculated.

Due to unfavorable weather and tide circumstances, the initial recovery that was supposed to take place on June 2-3, 2013, had to be postponed. A change in the recovery approach was also required due to meteorological delays and problems with the bottom geology. The Dornier’s rear fuselage was strengthened instead of a frame being built around it, and lifting strops were fastened to the airframe’s recognized strong points. Access to these strong places was not a problem because the aircraft was lying inverted on the bottom, and at 18:26 on June 10, the Do 17 was successfully raised and mostly unharmed. After that, it was brought to Ramsgate Docks, from where it set out the next day for RAF Cosford, where conservation and identification will take place.

However, as of 2019, the Goodwin Sands Don17Z has still to reveal its true identity.

Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Crown Copyright, Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-341-0489-10A / Spieth / CC-BY-SA, Commons: WikiProject Aviation/recent uploads/2012 April 21-30

August 8, 2022 0 comment