REASON FOR LOSS:

Started from Eindhoven for operations against a small factory NE of Cambridge, situated next to the river Cam, along with three other aircraft. This aircraft was flying at 5,000 ft. when it was attacked by a single engined fighter, the port engine caught fire, the bombs were jettisoned and the crew baled out. The aircraft dived into the ground at a steep angle and burnt out in crater.

Bullet strikes found in the remains of the fuel tank. Markings: a few plates marked Dornierwerke, Friedrichshafen. Engines: BMW 801 with metal propeller blades. Armament: one 20 mm MG 151, one 13 mm MG 131 and one MG 15. Traces of normal internal bomb stowage found including 500/XII slip. Four 500 kg bombs carried.

This aircraft was shot down by W/C R. G. Slade and P/O P. Truscott in a Mosquito Mk II of No.157 Squadron.

Bob Collis Report:

75 years ago tonight, during a small-scale night raid against Cambridge, a Dornier 217E-4, U5+LP, Werk-Nr.1152 from Luftwaffe unit 6./KG.2 was shot down by a Mosquito night-fighter of No.157 Sqn from Castle Camps and crashed in a field at Lodge Farm, Worlingworth, near Stradbroke in Suffolk. The crew of four baled out and were taken PoW. Oblt Hans Wolff, the pilot, a pre-war Lufthansa man, spent the night at Stradbroke Police Station. Years later his wife recalled how his enduring memory was how good the tea and biscuits tasted - he was simply relieved to be down in one piece.

In 1981 I was part of the N&SAM (Flixton) team who located and excavated the site.

Several tons of shattered wreckage were recovered and removed to the museum for sorting. Many of the more interesting items are now on display there. Quite a few items were offered to other museums who collected them.

Sadly we found that Gordon Slade, the pilot who shot the Do 217 down, had died in 1981, shortly after the dig. Hans Wolff, who emmigrated to Canada with his family post-war, died in 1982. However, our inquiries led us to the sons of Gordon Slade, and when they visited Flixton to see the remains of their father's wartime opponent we presented them with a 20mm British cannon-shell which we found embedded in the wreckage. Their father had fired it.

The research of course continues and I recently found a photo of the Mosquito involved. Last year I donated some pieces for the Do 217 to the Suffolk Aviation Heritage Museum at Kesgrave.

Digital impression of the Dornier after being hit by the Mosquito guns of Gordon Slade. (Collis).

Captive in Canada Hans Wolff 2nd right and fellow Luftwaffe officers in a PoW camp in Canada, 1943. (Collis).

Walther Flare Pistol & part of control column recovered from Hans Wolff's Do 217 (Collis).

Researched by Melvin Brownless with special thanks to Bob Collis.