Ref Number: 00240
Having suffered severe anti aircraft fire whilst on bomber escort over Southampton it flew on and crawled back over the Island until it could go no further.
Ref Number: 00240
After receiving heavy anti-aircraft fire during a bomber escort over Southampton, the plane continued flying over the island until it could go no further. The pilot and crew, consisting of FWs Rohde and Feber, were able to actively still engage the enemy as it continued to head for home aircraft halfway across the island, however it was progressively losing altitude and firing several bursts of machine gun fire as it went.
It was eventually forced to attempt a landing or a controlled crash at Bleakdown, just beyond The Chequers Inn in Rookley. The crew were then taken prisoner and local troops secured the aircraft, taking out the set time fuse, in order to investigate the aircraft, that the crew had attempted to set in order to blow up the plane.
Note: Images of the aircraft displayed reflect the type of aircraft and are not those of the specific.
