Date:	Sunday 18 August 1940
Time:	23:56
Type:	Heinkel He 111P
Owner/operator:	5./KG 27 Luftwaffe
Registration:	1408
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Blackpitts Farm, Aldsworth, Gloucestershire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
In the evening of 18 August 1940 fifty German bombers crossed the English coast and began prowling through the skies looking for targets of opportunity. This same evening Sgt Bruce Hancock, a trainee bomber pilot, took off from RAF Windrush for a night training sortie. He was alone aboard the Anson I L9164. The 26-year old pilot had almost finished training with No 6 SFTS at RAF Little Rissington. He was undertaking his final night solo flight before qualifying and was about to go on leave.

RAF Windrush was located 4 miles west of the Cotswold town of Burford. The airfield came into use in the early summer of 1940 and its primary use was as a Relief Landing Ground (RLG). The unit that used the airfield initially was No 15 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) who were based at RAF Kidlington near Oxford. The aircraft that used the airfield at this time were North American Harvards and Airspeed Oxfords who were to be seen carrying out take offs, circuits, and landings. Windrush was also used by No 6 SFTS who were based at RAF South Cerney.

Attracted by the Windrush airfield’s flare path, the He 111 P WNr 1408 of 5./KG 27 dropped ten 50kg bombs which caused no damage. The German bomber had been detailed to attack RAF Brize Norton, ten miles southeast of RAF Windrush, but the pilot had mistaken Windrush for his target. The bomber then caught sight of the Anson flown by Sgt Hancock and gave chase.

Reports from ground observers at the time say that the German plane turned towards the Anson and its front gunner opened fire on it. They also say that Hancock turned off his landing lights and slowed his plane, allowing the German aircraft to overfly him. Then, once the Heinkel’s pilot was committed to the manoeuvre, Hancock climbed, ramming the German plane out of the sky.

Although the RAF never recognized Hancock’s action, he had apparently told his brother-in-law that he would be quite prepared to ’deliberately ram an enemy aircraft’ if he had to... It is to this day not known if Hancock deliberately flew his aircraft into the bomber or if he was hit by gunfire that may have caused him to lose control of the Anson.

Both aircraft crashed near the airfield at Blackpitts Farm, Aldsworth, Northleach (now just off the A40, and approximately one mile west of Windrush runway threshold QDM 071) some minutes before midnight (one source says 23:56 hrs, another 23:50 hrs) and all on board were killed.

Crew of the He 111 (all killed):
Ofw Alfred Dreh
Uffz Richard Schmidt
Uffz Herbert Rave
Uffz Ewald Cohrs

Originally, the authorities incorrectly determined a crew of five from the grisly remains recovered from the aircraft and an ’Unknown German Airman’ was therefore buried, along with those named above, with full military honors at Northleach Parish Church. They have since been correctly reinterred at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, Staffordshire, England.

Crew of Anson L9164:
Sgt Bruce Hancock (Pilot, Service Number: 742644, aged 26)

Hancock’s body was not found until the following day, lying 100 yards from the wreckage of his plane. Local firewatchers who found his body claimed that had more of an effort been made to find him on the night of the crash, he may have lived. He was buried in the RAF cemetery at Hendon.

His action is commemorated by two plaques at Windrush church and at Windrush’s Watch Office.

Pictures of the wrecks of both aircraft appear in the book ’Catalina over Arctic Oceans: Anti-Submarine and Rescue Flying in World War II’

1. http://www.airshowspresent.com/raf-windrush.html
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2734824/bruce-hancock/
3. http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/another-wwii-airfield-raf-windrush.361756/
4. http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=141383
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/18782.php
6. http://www.thesherbornearms.com/events/4535286732
7. http://www.the-battle-of-britain.co.uk/pilots/Ha-pilots.htm
8. "The Blitz Then and Now, volume 1. September 3, 1939 – September 6, 1940", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-45-2
9. ’Catalina over Arctic Oceans: Anti-Submarine and Rescue Flying in World War II’, by John French. ISBN 978-1-78159-053-9
10. http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/features/8626015.Windrush_remembers_a_brave_Battle_of_Britain_pilot/ (picture of the pilot)
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Windrush
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldsworth
13. http://www.doogal.co.uk/ShowMap.php?postcode=GL54%203QY

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Dec-2018 12:29	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
08-Dec-2019 18:12	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
14-Aug-2022 02:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Category]