Date:	Thursday 20 February 1941
Time:	11:25
Type:	Messerschmitt Bf 110 E-1
Owner/operator:	3./EGr 210 Luftwaffe
Registration:	3474
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:
Location:	Ar sea off Harwich -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
In the morning, the minesweeper HMS Bramble was attacked simultaneously by two German twin engined aircraft at deck level off Harwich. They strafed her and dropped two bombs. One fell in the sea, the other on board but did not explode. AA fire from the ship shot down one of the attackers, the Bf 110 E-1 WNr 3474 S9+PK of 3./EGr 210 that crashed in the sea and exploded under water at 1125 hrs. Both crew, Lt Friedrich Konrad Heunisch (pilot) and Gefr Rudolf Gärtner (air gunner), were lost. Their initial target was Harwich.
The Bramble returned to port where the unexploded bomb was removed and disposed of. She suffered no casualties, but was holed port side aft on water line and required repairs.

British Admiralty War Diary, 20 February 1941 (https://www.fold3.com/image/302747111 and https://www.fold3.com/image/302747122)
"The Blitz Then and Now, volume 2. September 1940 – May 1941", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-54-1
"1941 the turning point. Part 1", by John Foreman, ISBN 1-871187-22-2
https://www.fold3.com/image/692023610
https://www.fold3.com/image/693056749
http://www.maplandia.com/united-kingdom/harwich/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
23-Feb-2021 08:30	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
25-Feb-2021 18:01	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]