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Junkers 188s of I/KG6 transiting from Chièvres, Belgium
to Münster-Handorf before their night bombing raid on London
15th October 1943.
On the night of 15th October 1943, I/KG6 was tasked with its
first major operational sortie against the British mainland.
The Junkers 188s were loaded with bombs at their forward base
of Chièvres but then had to make a transit flight to Münster-Handorf
in order to refuel.
As night fell, five aircraft departed Münster-Handorf and
headed for London. The first off was Hauptmann Helmuth Waldecker
in 3E+BL closely followed by Leutnant Karl Geyr in 3E+HH.
Geyr and his crew flew low level to the Dutch coast and then
climbed to 20,000 to follow a Knickebein beam towards Harwich.
After following a deliberately erratic course to confuse night
fighters, they dropped their bombs on London and headed for home.
Within minutes of dropping their bombs however, their Ju188 was
hit by flak, ten minutes later one of the crew spotted the dark
shape of a Mosquito night fighter moving across the night sky.
Immediately four bursts of cannon fire ripped into their aircraft
and their fate was sealed. With the fuel tanks on fire and all
but the pilot wounded, the aircraft spun out of control and crashed
near Birchington in Kent,
only the pilot, Karl Geyr, survived. Signed by Karl Geyr. |
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