Aircraft: Messerschmitt 109 E-1
Nationality: German
Serial number: 4842
Unit: 4 / JG53
Call sign: 10 +
Date of loss: 18/09/1940
Involved in a free-lance fighter sweep over Kent, this aircraft suffered technical problems with its new variable-pitch propeller. Lieutenant Erich Bodendiek, the Gruppe technical officer, became isolated from the rest of his Gruppe of 18 aircraft. Trying desperately to make cloud cover, he was engaged and shot down by Pilot Officer Robert "Bobby" Oxspring, flying a Spitfire of No 66 squadron. Hit in the fuel tank, Lt. Bodendiek baled out at high altitude and was badly burned. The aircraft crashed in flames in a hop field at Guilton near Ash, Kent at 17.05 hrs. Lt Bodendiek eventually came down in the sea some two miles off Folkestone and was rescued by a motor launch. Both pilots survived the war. Bodendiek had claimed three victories in the 1940 campaign and Oxspring was credited with 13 solo kills and two shared by the end of the war.
Nationality: German
Serial number: 4842
Unit: 4 / JG53
Call sign: 10 +
Date of loss: 18/09/1940
Involved in a free-lance fighter sweep over Kent, this aircraft suffered technical problems with its new variable-pitch propeller. Lieutenant Erich Bodendiek, the Gruppe technical officer, became isolated from the rest of his Gruppe of 18 aircraft. Trying desperately to make cloud cover, he was engaged and shot down by Pilot Officer Robert "Bobby" Oxspring, flying a Spitfire of No 66 squadron. Hit in the fuel tank, Lt. Bodendiek baled out at high altitude and was badly burned. The aircraft crashed in flames in a hop field at Guilton near Ash, Kent at 17.05 hrs. Lt Bodendiek eventually came down in the sea some two miles off Folkestone and was rescued by a motor launch. Both pilots survived the war. Bodendiek had claimed three victories in the 1940 campaign and Oxspring was credited with 13 solo kills and two shared by the end of the war.
The relic on display here is one of the two Bosch Magnetos from the Daimler-Benz DB601 engine which was recovered by the Kent Battle of Britain Museum.
