Nationality: German

Serial number: Wn 3339

Unit: Stab Erpobungsgruppe 210

Call sign: S9 + CB

Date of loss: 15/08/1940

This aircraft was part of Erpobungsgruppe 210, a unit formed in July 1940 to undertake precision fighter bomber attacks on important targets. The unit was equipped with Bf110 and Bf109 fighter bombers.

In the early evening of the 15th August 1940 (Eagle Day), this aircraft took off from St. Omer for a unit attack on RAF Kenley. However, in the evening haze they failed to find the target and instead "blitzed" Croydon aerodrome, which at that time was home to two RAF fighter squadrons. Heavy damage was inflicted on the airfield and surrounding factories; 63 people were killed and a further 45 severely injured. Following the devastating attack, the unit had successfully re-formed when it came under heavy fighter attack and was engaged in a running battle over the Surrey and Sussex countryside.



This aircraft was attacked by the Hurricane of Flight Lieutenant Russell of No. 32 Squadron. At 7.15pm, with its right engine badly damaged, the aircraft made a forced landing at School Farm, Hooe, East Sussex. The pilot, Leutnant Karl-Heinz Koch, the Gruppe Technical Officer, was captured unhurt by a local LDV unit, but the wireless operator / gunner Unteroffizier Rolf Kahl, had received severe gunshot wounds during the air engagement and was taken to the Military Hospital at Hellingly for treatment.

The "souvenirs" displayed here consist of the cockade from an NCO cap and a collar tab of an Unteroffizier, which were presumably from the wounded gunner. In addition, there is a period photograph of the crashed aircraft and some small items of wreckage consisting of what appears to be an access panel, a hose connector and an unidentified component. One suspects that the items were either obtained by a member of the LDV or a local civilian who arrived on the scene prior to the arrival of the regular Army at 8.30pm.