Date:	Friday 5 January 1945
Time:
Type:	Heinkel He 111H-16
Owner/operator:	9./KG 53 Luftwaffe
Registration:	162181
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Unknown
Location:	Husum, Schleswig-Holstein -   Germany
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
In the evening of 5 January 1945, He 111s of KG 53 launched another attack on England, launching ten V-1s between 2210 and 2225 hrs. Five aborted and two were shot down by the defences, but two caused serious incidents in London. Eleven people were killed and 22 injured in Beckenham (Burnill Road/Fairfield Road), and a further 14 died and 36 were injured in Lambeth a few minutes later following an explosion at the junction of Fentiman Road and Carroun Road.

Wing Cdr Russ Bannock, the CO of 406 Sqn RCAF and a successfull pilot having shot down so far six German aircraft and 18 V-1s, had spent many hours on previous nights to catch these intruders but has often found them flying too low over the waves to be attacked. This evening he flew to Germany, making landfall at 2010 hrs at Pellworm and proceeded towards Husum aerodrome, which was lit with outer perimeter lights and double flare path. He started a right-hand circuit at 400 feet and a head-on contact on an aircraft was obtained. He turned hard about and his radar operator picked up the contact again at 4,000 feet, almost dead ahead. The Mosquito followed it across the aerodrome and a visual was obtained at 1,000 feet. As Bannock was closing in to identify, he interrogated with a ’Waggle your wings, bogey’, with no response. The aircraft was identified by both crew as an He 111, burning a blue resin light inboard of the starboard engine. Bannock dropped to 600 feet and fired a one-second burst. The Heinkel immediately burst into flames and spun down into a wooded dispersal area at the south-west corner of the aerodrome. The airfield immediately doused so the Mosquito flew towards Schleswig but found no other target, seeing another aircraft going down in flames four miles north-west of Schleswig.

Bannock’s seventh victory was the Heinkel He 111 H-16 WNr. 162181 A1+HT of 9./KG 53. and his four crew were all killed.

Crew (all killed):
Hptm. Siegfried Jessen (Staffelkapitän)
Ofw Alfred Beyer (observer)
Uffz Wolfgang Gast (radio)
Fw Hermann Fresken (air gunner)
Uffz Gerhard Franke (air gunner)

"Diver! Diver! Diver! RAF and American Fighter Pilots Battle the V-1 Assault over South-East England 1944-1945", by Brian Cull and Bruce Lander. ISBN 1-904943-39-X
http://web.archive.org/web/20120320130812/http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html
http://acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/bannock.htm
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=31931
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flugplatz_Husum-Schwesing
https://www.google.de/maps/search/54.509444,9.136944/@54.509444,9.136944,11120m/data=!4m2!2m1!4b1?dg=dbrw&newdg=1

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Jan-2017 05:04	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
28-Apr-2019 18:38	stehlik49	Updated [Operator]