WORLD WAR TWO VENGEANCE WEAPON
BLED DRY
A force of 23 III./KG 53 He 111s
was dispatched for London early
on the morning of December 23.
Two suffered take-off accidents and
one reported being attacked by a
Mosquito at 0750hrs. This matches
perfectly with the experiences of Flt
Lt Dick Leggett of 125 Squadron.
The first hint he got of the enemy
was seeing a V-1 cross in front of
him right to left, so he turned in
and followed the track to where the
launch aircraft might be.
Immediately he saw something:
“After a chase of about 55 minutes
we closed in as light improved. Got
visual on He 111 at 300 yards. Gave
two-second burst from astern and
below from 200 yards range and saw
strikes below fuselage and inboard
of port engine.
“As we broke to starboard, saw
enemy aircraft alight from stem to
stern and large explosion in fore
part. Saw it hit and glow for
some minutes.”
Although Leggett was credited
with the kill and received
congratulations from Fighter
Command, the He 111H-16 of
9./KG 53 returned with a wounded
gunner, Uffz Hans Gunz, who died
the following day.
Christmas Eve 1944 brought
the last attack of the year and a
new objective – Manchester.
In addition to the Stab
(headquarters flight) and
I./KG 53, a total of 17
Heinkels from III./
KG 53 got airbornebetween 0258 and 0345hrs, with a
dozen launching between 0707 and
0815hrs. A barrage of 31 flying-
bombs reached the target area; 15
exploded at Bury, Chorley, Oldham
and in Manchester, killing 42 people
and injuring more than 100.
But there was retribution when
68 Squadron’s Flt Sgt Alfred Bullus
shot down the He 111 flown by
Uffz Herbert Neuber (7./KG 53)
northwest of Cromer, Norfolk, en
route to Manchester.
On the night of January 3-4, 1945,
a Heinkel from each of 2./
KG 53 and4./KG 53 and two from III./KG 53
were reported missing from a strike
on London. Accidents on take-off,
or on return, accounted for another
four bombers.
That night, 42 Luftwaffe aircrew
were killed and five wounded; such
losses were impossible to sustain this
late in the war. The RAF did not
make a single claim that evening, but
KG 53 was being bled dry.“A barrage of 31 fl ying-bombs reached the
target area; 15 exploded at Bury, Chorley,
Oldham and in Manchester killing 42 people
and injuring more than 100”Right
Sqn Ldr Russ Bannock
(left) and his original
navigator, Fg Off Bob
Bruce.Below
Crews of II./KG 53 in May
1944, celebrating the
award of the Ritterkreuz
to Fw Fritz Will – in the
cart with a whip. To
his left is Hptm Heinz
Zöllner who was killed
in action on August 28,
1944, while returning to
Germany to commence
conversion training for V-1
operations.38 FLYPAST November 2018
Stab./KG 53 Bad Zwischenahn
1./KG 53 Varrelbusch
2./KG 53 Ahlhorn
3./KG 53 Vechta
4./KG 53 Bad Zwischenahn
5./KG 53 Jever
6./KG 53 Wittmund
7./KG 53 Leck
8./KG 53 Schleswig
9./KG 53 EggebekKG 53 BASES