FlyPast 06.2018

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minimal due to the ranges the
aircraft would have to fly. Maj
Anton Schub’s 1.(F)/120 was the
only ‘flying pencil’ unit to take
an active part and even then, it
only had five Do 17Ps and three
He 111s. Two of its Do 17s were
damaged by bomb splinters at
Stavanger-Sola on April 11 and it
lost another to anti-aircraft fire,
with Lt Siegfried Fidorra and Ofw
Werner Sörensen wounded. Then
on May 1, one aircraft was hit by
gunfire on the ground at Oslo, plus
another was damaged and one burnt
out by enemy action at Stavanger
Sola.
Shortly after, 1.(F)/120 began to
hand over its Do 17s in favour of the
Heinkel He 111 but by the end of
the year, was flying the Ju 88. One
other Do 17 unit, Obstlt Hermann
Edert’s KG 606, carried out coastal
armed reconnaissance over the seas
between Germany and Norway, with
just the one Do 17Z-3, commanded
by Lt Walter Priebe of 3./606 failing

to return from a mission to the

Skagerrak on April 9. Because of its

maritime role, KG 606 also operated

the Do 17Z-5, essentially a Z-3

equipped with additional floatation

and survival equipment, notably two

floatation devices either side of the

nose.

Meanwhile further south, the

first nine days of May 1940 were

relatively quiet. The last reported

combat before the Battle of France

began was between a Do 17P of

4.(F)/121 which was intercepted by

Hurricanes of 87 Squadron south

of Lunéville in the early afternoon

of May 9. The Dornier had been

carrying out a reconnaissance

of French airfields. Oblt Walter

Riebicke and his crew managed to

return to base with one of them

wounded, but not before they had

damaged the Hurricane flown by

Plt Off Horatio Dunn, who had

accounted for a Do 17 of the same

unit on November 10 the previous

year and had then been forced to

land in Belgium. This time Dunn

was seriously injured and died

on June 1; nine days later Walter

Riebicke, flying with two new

crew, was killed taking off from

Mannheim-Sandhofen when his Do

17P collided with a Junkers Ju 52

transport; in all, six aircrew perished.

The Battle for France began the

following day and was closely

followed by the Battle of Britain –

Do 17 losses increased and soon a

number of units converted to the

Ju 88. By the end of 1941, the early

Dornier had been all but replaced by

faster and more modern and capable

bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.

Left

Flt Lt Max Pearson of 54

Squadron, who shot down

a Do 17 on March 31, 1940,

is seen back row, second

from left. He was killed in

action on May 27, 1940.

Above

The Do 17P continued to

be used in the battle for

France, sometimes in very

close support of ground

troops, as this photo

shows. However, by the

end of 1940, most units

had converted to other

types.

Left

While on a training

fl ight on April 8, 1940,

this Do 17P of 3.(F)/123

crashed into woodland

east of Hanau, Germany.

The pilot, Oblt Georg

Beisiegel, and mechanic

OGefr Johann Schadl were

both killed.

June 2018 FLYPAST 117