Hi, I'm trying to research into which Luftwaffe pilot/geschwader claimed the kill of the above Hurricane and more background on the Hurricane pilot. He was Sgt. W. L. Dymond of 111 Squadron shot down over the Thames estuary about 12.50pm believed to be by a Bf 109. As he went down with his a/c, there has been no closure for the family of this 23 year old. I believe JG26 had a rest day so it would not have been one of their a/c but can anyone point me in the right direction for checking the kill records of the other Kanalgeschwader JGs 1,2,11,54 etc. ? Also any photos of 111 Squadron aircrew 1937 - 1940 would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot, Bill
Hi Bill, Welcome to the forum and best of luck with your research. I'll review some of the research avenues I used when I was looking into Hawker Hurricane P2902 during the writing of 'Down to Earth'. I know there is a very knowledgeable chap in the US who has a great deal of information relating to Luftwaffe records. I'll check my files. Cheers Owen
Hi Bill and welcome ! While you're waiting for Owen and the rest of the experts ... I found a few snippets !! Sgt William Laurence Dymond joined No 111 Squadron in May 1940. He was credited with 10 kills and he shared in several other kills and was awarded the D.F.M.. He was shot down and killed on the 2nd of September 1940 at 12:50hrs. He had been in combat with a Bf 109 over the Thames estuary in his Hurricane I (P3875). He received the Distinguished Flying Medal 1940 enemy aircraft | squadron | sgt | 1940 | 2595 | Flight Archive William Lawrence Dymond is mentioned here a few times defending the airfields Fighter Command Air Combat Claims ... - Google Book Search September 2nd, 1940 UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Genoa - oil plant at Frankfurt. 58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Genoa. Five got off, three bombed primary, two bombed alternatives. Two ditched on return, crews safe. 77 Sqn. Six aircraft to Frankfurt. Five got off, all bombed. Llandarcy, Glamorganshire: Lt Bertram Stuart Trevelyan Archer (b. 1915), Royal Engineers, defused the most dangerous of several bombs at a refinery, despite explosions and blazing oil. (George Cross) Battle of Britain: RAF Fighter Command: Several airfields attacked including Biggin Hill, Lympne, Detling, Eastchurch (three times), Hornchurch (twice) and Gravesend. An aircraft factory at Rochester (Shorts) is bombed. At night Merseyside, Midlands, Manchester, Sheffield are all bombed. The first of four major daylight raids was carried out by KG 3 Do17s heavily escorted by Bf109s which approached Kent at 07:00. Although Park scrambled five squadrons few contacted the enemy, for close protection of Sector Stations was now prescribed. The Dornier formations parted near Maidstone and headed for Rochford, North Weald, Biggin Hill and Gravesend; at the latter 11 bombs fell around the airfield at 08:00. At the same time 48 bombs caused considerable damage to houses at Rochester and 20 minutes later Chatham received ten HEs. At the initial division point No. 72 Squadron had been busy dealing with some Do17s and Bf110s at around 13,000 feet as another nine Do17s, contour hugging, again struck Biggin Hill. No. 603 Squadron, patrolling over Hornchurch was vectored to withdrawing Bf109s and bagged one which fell to Pilot Officer Richard Hillary (X4277) later to become famous as the author of the book 'The Last Enemy'. Around noon with about 250 enemy aircraft approaching, Park decided this time to order his squadrons forward. While resultant scores were not high, the tactic diminished the military effectiveness of the operation although it caused the bombing of Maidstone, where many houses suffered and 15 casualties resulted. More raids in similar strength followed, taxing the defenders to the extreme, and at 16:40 Maidstone endured a second onslaught. Soon after 17:00 a tremendous battle resulted when about 90 RAF fighters took on 160 Bf109s. Losses: Luftwaffe, 35; RAF, 31. 2 September 1940 There is a book about the Squadron....... S A Burton 'Adstantes: 111 (Fighter) Squadron' (Private 1996) I found this and got excited ... but I don't think this is the one !! ..... hwell: Victory claims 2 September 1940 Hans-Joachim Marseille - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hans-Joachim Marseille, By Major Robert Tate, USAF These Luftwaffe aces Hajo Herrmann, Hans Ekkehard Bob, Walter Schuck, Ernst Scheufele and Karl-Fritz Schlossstein Ernst Udet and Werner Mölders were all flying with Marseille - might be worth checking out their Victory claims Annie
Hi Bill have you contacted Tony Wood's or the guys on TOCH. Though, Tony hasn't put up Luftwaffe claims for the BoB, he may have details of that date in his files: http://www.lesbutler.ip3.co.uk/tony/tonywood.htm and the guys in the Luftwaffe section of TOCH are very knowledgable: Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum Do you have his entries in The Men of the Battle of Britain and The Battle of Britain: Then and Now? If not I can scan and post here.
Re: TOCH query Hi Kyt, Yes thanks to you and Tony's files, I managed to narrow it down to two pilots. Unfortunately I know there were at least three raids on airfields in the Thames / Kent areas on the 2nd Sept. but neither entry that I have narrowed it to has a time that is near 12.50pm. So somehow I need to find out if 1/JG3 or 9/JG54 were over the UK at that time. In answer to your last question, no I don't have anything on either of those, so yes please. Thanks again, Bill
