FlyPast 02.2018

a small merchant convoy bound

from Portsmouth to Milford

Haven heard the sound of aircraft

approaching from the south.

‘The moon was not yet up and

no aircraft could be seen but

their presence was confirmed by

the escort. There was no sound

of E-boat [motor torpedo boat]

engines. A gunner thought he saw

an aircraft and opened fire [15

minutes later].

‘Almost immediately afterwards

the ship was struck by a torpedo

which wrecked the engine room.

Subsequent examination showed

that a second torpedo had entered

the ship, apparently through the

hole made by the first, but had

not exploded possibly because the

explosion of the first torpedo had

injured the mechanism. The ship

was towed into Plymouth with a

large hole in the side.’

Shortly afterwards, III/KG 26

moved to Banak in northern

Norway.

In the Arctic, convoy PQ.18

became the centre of attention

between September 13 and 17,

1942. A force of 24 He 111s of
      Major Werner Klümper’s I/KG 26
      and 17 Ju 88s from III/KG 26 led
      by Hptm Klaus Nocken employed
      the Goldenen Zange (‘Golden
      Pincers’) tactic for the first time.
      Flying at sea level in extended
      line abreast, they approached
      the convoy from the side. Eight
      freighters were hit, all of which
      were either sunk or so badly
      damaged that they were finished off
      by the bombers’ escorts or U-boats.
      Thirteen ships were sunk, ten
      of them credited to aircraft. The
      victory came at great cost: 57
      airmen were killed and 44 aircraft
      (of which 38 were torpedo-carriers)
      were shot down.

re-locating from the Baltic during the
following month. Kampfgeschwader
26 began conversion to the torpedo
role in January 1942.
With more torpedo aircraft
available and a training system in
place, operations focused on Allied
Arctic convoys with the He 111H-
6s of I/KG 26 together with the He
115s of Hptm Herbert Vater’s 1/
KüFlGr 406 and Hptm Eberhard
Peukert’s 1/KüFlGr 906, all of
which were based in Norway.
The first strike took place against
convoy PQ.13 on March 19,

1942, but the only successes of
the engagement were credited to
conventional bombers. On May
3, six He 111s of I/KG 26, led by
temporary Kommandeur Hptm
Bernd Eicke, approached PQ.15 at
low level.
Veiled by haze and undetected by
radar, they sank the Botavon and
Cape Corso. The latter exploded
with such violence that it badly
damaged the Jutland, which was
finished off by the submarine
U-251 later that day. Two He 111s
were shot down and one crashed on
its return from this raid.
Between May 25 and 29, a string
of heavy attacks were inflicted on
PQ.16 by I/KG 26 and the two He
115 units. Six ships were sent to
the bottom, including the catapult
aircraft-armed Empire Lawrence.
An Allied report on this action
seemed unconcerned: ‘The
operations by torpedo-carrying
aircraft do not appear to have
been very successful. The aircraft
approached flying low and released
their torpedoes at about 10 feet.
There is little information on
ranges but it is known that the
only hit obtained was as a result of
random shots from 4,000 yards and
that, in general, the assaults were
not pressed home.’
Sailing from Iceland on June

27, 1942, PQ.17 was destined to

receive dreadful punishment. The

first attack did not materialise

until July 2, when 1/KüFlGr 406’s

commander, Vater, was shot down

in his He 115. They were picked up

by one of the convoy’s escorts.

Two days later, Hptm Eberhard

Peukert of 1/KüFlGr 906, was

credited with torpedoing the

freighter Christopher Newport.

Later that day, a force of 25 He

111s of I/KG 26 led by Bernd

Eicke, went into the fray. Lt Konrad

Hennemann hit the Navarino and

Eicke took on the William

Hooper.

With the threat of

German battleships

approaching, the convoy

scattered during the

evening, preventing

further strikes. Out of

36 vessels in PQ.17,

the Luftwaffe and

U-boats had sunk 24.

Of the torpedo aircrew

that took part, Karl-

Hermann Burmeister

and Eberhard Peukert

received the Honour Goblet while

Eicke was presented with the

German Cross in Gold in August

1942. Hennemann, who was killed
      during the action, received the
      Knights Cross posthumously on
      September 3.

HOLE IN ONE

Just before midnight on August

3, 1942, III/KG 26, commanded

by Hptm Ernst-Günther Möller,

attacked a convoy off the Devon

coast. It claimed to have sunk six

ships totalling 20,000 tons, but the

only confirmed casualty was the

5,841-ton El Ciervo.

Nevertheless, one of the other

vessels had a close shave, as an

Allied report reveals: ‘At 23:53hrs,

the master of the largest vessel in

Subsequent examination showed

that a second torpedo had entered

the ship, apparently through the

hole made by the first, but had

not exploded possibly because the

explosion of the first torpedo had

injured the mechanism. The ship

was towed into Plymouth with a

1942, but the only successes of
the engagement were credited to

Eicke took on the William

Hooper.

became the centre of attention

between September 13 and 17,

received the Honour Goblet while

Eicke was presented with the

William

Left

For maritime operations,

some He 111Hs were fi tted

with FuG 200 Hohentwiel

ship search radar. Note

the MG FF cannon in the

nose.

Above

The Heinkel He 111H-6/T

was a purpose-built

torpedo-bomber able

to carry two LT F5b

torpedoes. ALL VIA AUTHOR

February 2018 FLYPAST 87