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He 59 serial number 2793 shot down near Esbjerg 11/3 1941.
The aircraft belonged to 5./ Staffel Seenotgruppe and was coded
?
T/o ? Op: Feindflug.
The He 59 was attacked by a Hudson G of 220 Squadron Coastal Command at 15:39
hours while flying at 1000 feet about 40 kilometres south east of Horns Reef.
The crew of the Hudsen, F/O Simpson, Sgt Heppell, W/Op Sgt Mills and Air Gunner
Sgt Swain attacked out of the sun and slightly below the He 59, and then climbed
to the starboard to attack the He 59 from his starboard quarter. The Hudson
opened fire at 400 yards closing to 100 yards using both rear and side guns
while the He 59 returned fire from rear turret.
A second attack from the Hudson put the He 59 into gliding turns and force
landed in the North Sea about 8 kilometres west of the southern tip of the
island of Fanø at 15:47 hours.
Nine Germans including Pilot Vonlske who was wounded in the leg from bullets and
Observer Schneider who was wounded in one arm from bullets managed to get into
three dinghies before the He 59 sank.
They fired flares that were at 23:45 hours observed by the Danish fishing vessel
E 264 “Harmonie” of Esbjerg.
Skipper Poul Poulsen set course for the dinghies
and took the survivors onboard. It was clear to him that the wounded flyers
needed medical attention and flares were fired and all lights onboard lit.
“Harmonie” was soon met by Flugsicherungsboot 205 of List that took the flyers
to List on the German island of Sylt.
A document of appreciation was presented to Skipper Poul Poulsen
by the
German Kommandant im Abschnitt Westdänemark.
When the owner of “Harmonie” was
interned at the camp in Frøslev late in the war, his wife borrowed the document
from Poulsen and took it to the town commandant of Esbjerg.
This eventually
helped the owner of “Harmonie” to be released.
Sources: KT, RL 2 III/753+1176, “Det er nødvendigt at sejle”, Form 540/220 Sqn
via Ross McNeill, JJ.
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