Date: 24th October 1940.
Time: 12.35 hours.
Unit: 3 Staffel./Aufkl.Gr.Ob.d.L.
Type: Dornier Do 215B
Werke/Nr.0060
Code: L2 + KS
Location: In the yard of the Bell Inn, Eaton Socon, near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. L.6278.
Pilot: Leutnant. Erwin Meyer. 53506/? – Killed. CC 5/39.
Observer: Unteroffizier. Erhardt Hofmann. 53506/? – Killed. CC 5/40.
Radio/Op: Unteroffizier. Helmut Broening. 53506/? – Killed. CC 5/44.
Flt/Eng: Gefreiter. Max Dorr. 53506/? - Captured wounded.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Started from Orly at 11.00 hrs. on a photographic reconnaissance over Coventry and Birmingham. While taking full advantage of cloud cover this aircraft was attacked by three Hurricanes at 2,000 ft. the second burst doing considerable damage both engines catching fire in the air, the crew bailed out and the aircraft crashed at considerable speed, in a shallow dive, scattering wreckage over a wide area. A number of .303 strikes coming mainly from astern were found in pieces of wreckage. Three of the crew bailed out too low, their parachutes failing to open. Markings: all in black, spinners yellow. Airframe manufactured by Dornier Werke Friedrichshafen.
Engines: DB 601 A-1 made by Daimler Benz at Werke 90 Berlin-Marienfelde. Starboard no. 11674 made 20/11/39; port no. 11689 made 4/12/39. Armament: five MG 15 found but no armour plate traced. Fittings for two cameras found in the rear bomb compartment and a quantity of film.
This aircraft was shot down by F/Lt M. H. Brown, P/O A. V. Clowes and P/O A. Kershaw of No. 1 Squadron.
A Dornier Do 215B reconnaissance aircraft.
View of the crash site pictured shortly after the crash. (Parker).
Sole survivor, Maximillion Dorr pictured after joining the Luftwaffe. (Dorr).
Left, Max Dorr and possibly Uffz. Hofmann and Uffz. Broening. (Dorr).
Max Dorr pictured as a prisoner of war on his way to his prison camp. (Dorr).
Those killed now rest at the Soldatenfriedhof Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. (Brownless).
The resting place of Erwin Meyer, Erhardt Hofmann and Helmut Broening.
Researched and compiled by Melvin Brownless with special thanks to Nigel Parker and Andy Saunders and Maximillion Dorr, grandson of Max Dorr. Updated June 2020.
