Resurrecting this thread, I wonder if there is anywhere where there is a comprehensive list or database of Luftwaffe aircraft brought down over UK, in particular the Bristol, and Gloucester/Brockworth GDA area. I'm conscious of the listing on Fishponds Local History Society, but it seems not to list some of the aircraft that are described as being destroyed in some of the War Diaries. Any Suggestions?
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase/?q=bristol Might be worth asking below http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/430898-documentation-every-luftwaffe-loss-uk.html
The 'fishponds' list is of interest to me, because according to a spoken account by Henry Moore of 164 Battery the 59th (the Essex Regiment) HAA they were sent to Weston-super-Mare with 3.7 inch guns due to intelligence reports which anticipated air-raids. Henry was part of the 5 man team operating the “Predictor”. He was number 4. He was the one to tell the Officer when they were ready to fire (i.e. based upon entered Bearing, Height, Angle, & wind velocity). The Officer then just shouted “FIRE” The Battery were positioned on the edge of a cricket pitch, and they were given ridiculous instructions not to walk on the pitch, or to lay down sandbags (which were normally used around the guns to reduce the blast). During a very heavy raid, bombs were dropping all around them (including the precious cricket pitch). The raid was so intense that the troops were given the order to disperse, which meant “run away from the guns fast, in any direction you like”. This was the only time during the war that 164 Battery received the order to ‘disperse’. After the raid was over, the troops regrouped for a roll call. Three men were missing. They never found their bodies, only pieces of flesh scattered around over a large area. So I guess this incident happened around the end of June 1942.
Interesting thing is that there is a 3 day discrepancy on the dates of 2 German airmens gravestones involved in the crash. It took 3 days to retrive the mandatory 'body weight' to allow for burial.
Interesting, why do you think this happened Sept 1940? The 59th didn't leave Essex until the spring of 1941: Sergeant ACK-ACK: Moving out of Essex in 1941
Quite sad to think that war turns fit young intelligent men into a pile of burnt mush in a wheelbarrow.
To be honest I probably need to order a copy of the diary for the 59th rather than rely on what I think I know. Some of these old fellas (like my dad) may have got their memories a bit jumbled in their final years. However, I can't spare the time at the moment...at least not before 'the clocks go back'.
I may have said this before, but I often reflect upon how death was dealt with in the TV "Westerns" and war films of my youth (1950/60s). The bullet hardly damaged the guys shirt, he said "Arrgh", and his mates soon forgot about him. I think it was only in 1970 when I saw Soldier Blue that I realised that the slaughter of war wasn't like that.
My grandfather George Bates was a police constable in Fishponds and was one of the first on site. My dad also saw it crash. George recovered a leather belt, a mouth piece a belt buckle serial number FL 30232-1 and a silk parachute. The latter Was used to make a wedding dress and petticoats and no longer exists. The rest deserve a better home than my garage.