Nationality: German
Serial number: 5449
Unit: Stab / KG26
Call sign: 1H + JA
Date of loss: 28/10/1939
Took off from Lubeck-Blankensee on a long-range, armed reconnaissance mission to the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth, a round trip of some 1,000 miles. At 15,000ft over the Firth of Forth, the aircraft was hit by accurate anti-aircraft fire, Spitfires of 602 and 603 squadrons then located the Heinkel at 6,000ft. Repeated attacks riddled the doomed bomber, wounding the pilot, knocking out both engines, shattering the cockpit instruments and killing the flight engineer and radio operator. The pilot, skilfully gliding his aeroplane, performed a perfect forced landing in difficult terrain in the Lammermuir Hills, near Edinburgh.
This was the first German aircraft to be brought down over mainland Britain in WW2 and attracted huge media attention at the time. It also gave RAF Intelligence a largely intact machine to evaluate, although the RAF technicians crucially failed to discover the German radio navigational bombing aid code named "Knickebein". It was not until late 1940 that the mystery of this navigation system was discovered.The small item on display here came from the crash site and appears to be the mounting or guide for one of the control cables.
Crew: Pilot – Uffz. Kurt Lehmkuhl (captured wounded), Observer – Ltn. Rolf Niehoff (captured), Radio Operator – Gefr. Bruno Reimann and Flight Engineer – Uffz. Gottlieb Kowalke both killed.