FlyPast 06.2018

194019401940

WESTERN

MORE BAD NEWS

It would be another 10 days before

the next Do 17 was lost. This was

an additional kill for Edouard Salès

together with Sgt René Trémolet

of GC II/5. Oblt Werner Thiel

and Fw Ludwig Schneider of

3.(F)/22 were captured when they

force-landed Do 17P ‘4N+EL’ at

Eincheville, north-eastern France,

during a reconnaissance sortie to

Pont-à-Mousson; the remaining

crew member, Gefr Alfred Gerner,

was killed.

Two days later, four pilots from

GC II/7 chased a Do 17P of

4.(F)/121 all the way back to the

border where it crash-landed at

Seefeld, Austria, three miles west of

Sulzberg.

Lt Helmut Böttcher and Gefr

Heinz Gründling were badly hurt,

whilst Lt Rolf Habermann was

mortally wounded.

There was one more day of Do 17

losses in November, but no more

were shot down until the second

week of January 1940.

On November 23, four Do

17Ps and a lone Do 17Z of Stab/

Kampfgeschwader 2 (KG 2) were

lost. The latter was flown by Oblt

Alfred Winter and was engaged on

a reconnaissance flight in the Paris

area. It was attacked over Fléville by

Capt Jean Accart of GC I/5, and

CHRIS GOSS LOOKS AT EARLY COMBAT LOSSES FOR

THE LUFTWAFFE’S DORNIER DO 17 ON THE WESTERN FRONT

“THE GERMAN WAR AIM IS THE FINAL MILITARY DISPATCH OF THE WEST, THAT IS, THE

DESTRUCTION OF THE POWER AND ABILITY OF THE WESTERN POWERS EVER AGAIN TO

BE ABLE TO OPPOSE THE STATE CONSOLIDATION AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE GERMAN

PEOPLE IN EUROPE.” ADDRESSING THE GERMAN GENERAL STAFF, OCTOBER 10, 1939

Above

A trio of Do 17Ps of

3.(F)/22, sporting a mix of

camoufl age schemes. At the

start of the Battle of France

this unit was based at

Wiesbaden and commanded

by Hptm Walter Kaasch.

Below

A Do 17P of A/88 seen

in Spain as part of the

German effort during the

Spanish Civil War.

June 2018 FLYPAST 113