ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205166
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| Date: | Tuesday 16 May 1944 |
| Time: | 19:36 |
| Type: |  de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB Mk VI |
| Owner/operator: | 418 (City of Edmonton) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | NS930 |
| MSN: | TH-T |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Location: | RAF stn Coltishall, Norfolk, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Coltishall,Norfolk |
| RAF Coltishall |
Mosquito NS930/T - T/o at 15:00 hrs for night intruder mission to Greifiswald. 16.5.1944
S/Ldr Scherf, who officially is on ground duty, made another "last trip" with the 418 Sqn today.
At 17:00 hrs as we approached Gedser Head, we noticed an He111 flying 220° at 2000 ft. We climbed in behind and gave chase. He opened up and let down 800 ft smoke pouring from engines. It took five minutes to close range and at 17:05 hrs opened fire at 150 yards dead astern. A two second burst of cannon and MG caused fires in fuselage, starboard engine and wing. He made a dive to starboard and hit the sea, exploding as he did so.
We proceeded to Zingst with S/Ldr Cleveland and found a Fw190 doing rocket gun practice, firing into a field just east of Zingst landing ground, at about 1000 feet. We climbed to attack, he took evasive action turning sharply to port. However we out-turned him and at 17:25 hrs laying on a 30° deflection shot at 300 yards range with a 2 second burst of cannon and MG caused him to burst into flames. He levelled out on a heading of 210°, we got in behind him at 150 yards range and gave him another two second burst. The E/A flicked over on his back and exploded, completely disintergrating.
We then entered Kibitzen Bay with the intention of going on to Vitte and Bug, hovever we notieced a lot of activity in the air over Parrow A/F and sea plane base, so we turned south. Here we separated, S/Ldr Cleveland broke left towards Rambin, and we continued on a course of 180° and at 17:30 hrs made a 30° head on attack, one ring deflection from slightly underneath, on a He177 flying in northerly direction at 1200 feet. We closed at 150 yards and fired a one second burst, the cockpit exploded and both engines caught fire. He plunged directly into the sea, one parachue was observed to open. From this attack we turned our attention to Parrow airfield coming at it on a easterly heading.
S/Ldr Cleveland was seen attacking a T/E aircraft landing in NW direction and saw strikes, but final results were not seen as we turned to attack He111 on the ground, parked on the east side of ‘drome by slipway’ with a 2 second burst from 300 yds. closing right in. This E/A immediately exploded completely. The nicest explosion we have ever seen. We then turned north over the bay and suggested that S/L Cleveland take the biplane seen proceeding west across the bay. Reply was that he could not do it, so at 17:34 hrs we attacked ourselves, swinging in behind at 500 ft closed to 50 yards and fired a one second burst. This E/A blew up completely, at first identified as a Buckner 131 but later confirmed as a He123. During this attack about 20 flying boats were observed parked on the water at Parrow seaplane base. We dived to starboard and at 17:35 hrs opened fire on a Do18 from approximately 200 yards. A two second burst caused many strikes and we left it smoking. Immediately afterwards we noticed a Ju86P headed south over the town of Stralsund. We tried to avoid the town in making attack, but several guns opened up with very accurate L/F probably Bofors type. We felt a strike form tail and a vivid flash from port drop tank. We pressed home attack on Ju86P, closed to 200 yards and fired a 2 second burst at 17:37hrs. at approximately 1000 feet. Both engines exploded and he hit the deck just south of the town. We turned starboard headed north and notieced a Do18 still smoking and passed out near Zingst where a Fw190 was still burning on the ground. One Me109 was seen sitting on landing dome at Zingst. We decided to head for home. Nr Dossau Point we overtook S/Ldr Cleveland who had decided to og home on one engine. He told us that he had destroyed tow aircraft and we in turn gave him a vector to fly for Sweden. In Kiel Bay we were fired on by a convoy, no damage sustained. It might be noted here that many convoys were seen, stationary and moving including one large approximately 20,000 ton troop carrier (stationary) in Kiel Bay. On leaving the German coast east of Pellworn Island we flew into flock of birds which rose on approach form beach, causing much damage to leading edte of wings, nose and spinners. On landing we discovered that most of the port elevator hand been shot away and that there were about 20 holes in the leading edte of the wing where birds had hit, in addition, some of the birds had also been driven through the leading edge and on out through the top of the wing.
Crew:
S/Ldr (Aus.413671) Charles Curnow SCHERF DSO DFC & bar (pilot) RAAF - OK
F/O (J/13956) Colin Gowans FINLAYSON DFC (nav.) RCAF - Ok
Sources:
1.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txtt
2.ORB 418 Sqn RCAF
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 23 March 1944 | HX812 | 418 (City of Edmonton) Sqn RCAF | 0 | near Abbeville, Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region |  |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Jan-2018 18:05 | Nepa | Added |
| 19-Sep-2018 07:39 | Nepa | Updated [Registration, Cn, Narrative, Operator] |
| 03-Jul-2022 10:07 | Nepa | Updated [Source, Narrative, Operator] |
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