ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 196636
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| Date: | Sunday 16 February 1941 |
| Time: | 00:25 |
| Type: |  Heinkel He 111 P-4 |
| Owner/operator: | 6./KG4 Luftwaffe |
| Registration: | 3085 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Beach Road, South Shields, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
During the night of 15-16 February 1941, the Luftwaffe dispatched 129 bombers against Great Britain: 79 to attack the docks at Liverpool, 45 to lay mines on the coast from Flamborough Head to St Abbs Head and 5 to bomb the Hawker Aircraft Factory at Langley. 40 of the first were recalled at 2100 hrs. Of the remaining crew, 30 claimed to have bombed Liverpool, 2 Langley, 1 Southampton and 7 alternative targets. Bombing was in fact widespread, with incidents reported in every Civil Defence Region except Wales. Several parachute mines were reported, but nowhere was damage serious although there were a few fatal casualties.
British defences firend 3000 heavy AA rounds without positive success, but one of the 80 night fighters on patrol managed to shot down an He 111 of II./KG 27. Two other bombers did not return, a Ju 88 of I./KG 1 landing on a RAF airfield due to engine trouble and being captured fairly intact and a He 111 of II./KG 4 crashing after colliding with a ballon cable. Another Ju 88, of III./KG 77, crashed in occupied territory on return from the raid.
_____________________________________________________________________
The He 111 P-4 WNr 3085 5J+GP of 6./KG 4, possibly hit by gunfire before, struck a barrage ballon cable at 0025 hrs on the 24th over South Shields. Part of one wing was broken off and fell on the shore. The plane lost height very quickly and crashed in Beach Road, exactly on the crater made in 1940. One member of the crew, Ofw Beetz, believed to be the pilot, bailed out but his parachute caught on the overhead wires and he hung downwards until rescued. He was badly injured and died shortly after admission to the Ingham Infirmary. The remainder of the crew perished with their plane on impact with the ground.
Crew (all killed):
Ofw Wilhelm Beetz (pilot)
Hptmn Heinz Styra (observer)
Uffz Karl-Günther Brützam
Gefr Franz-Friedrich Janeschitz
Uffz Helmut Herbert Jeckstadt
On impact, the wreckage caught fire, and 20-25 minutes later, at 0050 hrs, a mine that the enemy aircraft had been carrying exploded, blowing the aircraft and the remains of the four crew still inside to pieces. Some idea of the explosion may be gathered from the facts that it was seen and heard from beyond Newcastle and many windows were broken as far away as Tynemouth, North Shields, Westoe and Laygate. The Model Yacht House in the South Park and a small building were completely wrecked; and parts of the plane, maps, papers and clothing were subsequently collected from the South Park and dredged from the Lake. Unhappily the explosion had tragic results; one officer of the Borough Police Force, Constable Leslie Lamb, 23 and one Auxiliary Fireman were killed; two other members of the AFS died in hospital. The CWGC lists three South Shields AFS casualties this day, all three dying of wounds same day at Ingham Infirmary: Albert George Purvis, 23, George Lyall Walter Renwick, 33, and John Wharton, 36. Seventeen more members of the Police Force, Fire Brigade and Auxiliary Fire Service were injured, some very gravely, and were admitted to the Ingham Infirmary.
Other enemy aircraft, apparently taking the flames as target, dropped bombs at 0036 hrs on Brodrick Street, where Hilmar Olaus Rasmussen, 65, and his daughter Kathleen Maud Rasmussen, 21, were killed and 3 people were injured, including Margaret Byrne, 47, who died of her wounds on the 22nd, and several houses were demolished, and at 0055 hrs on the junction of Lawe Road and St Aidan’s Road, where 5 people were injured and damage was caused to a number of houses, "Sea Marge" and "Tyne View" being completely wrecked. During the same raid six Parachute mines descended on the South Sands near Trow Rocks, and on some fields near the New Marsden Inn, but caused no damage or casualties. Final count for the night was 7 killed or fatally wounded, 24 injured and 85 homeless.
There was clearly some difficulties in identifying the crew and informing the German authorities of their fate through the International Red Cross: Beetz and another crew were reported killed almost immediately, but Styra and another member were not shown as killed in German records until January 1942 and the last crew was then still listed as missing.
Sources:
http://ne-diary.genuki.uk/Inc/ISeq_12.html
"The Blitz Then and Now, volume 2. September 1940 – May 1941", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-54-1
http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche.html
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1
https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/ne332ne
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Jul-2017 12:53 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 09-Dec-2019 15:41 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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