http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/"It is hard to both appreciate and visualise what had just happened to this bomber
and its young German four-man crew the last time it was in fresh air-just after lunchtime on 26 August 1940. What must the four of them have thought as being used as bait to lure RAF fighters into what was hoped to be a massive German fighter trap as they lifted off from their Belgian airfield and hour or so earlier? The trepidation they and the other bomber crews must have felt approaching the Thames Estuary must have been eased by the sight of so many Messerschmitt 109s only to see the RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes fighters pounce on their would-be protectors. This then allowed the Boulton Paul Defiants
of 264 Squadron to approach the bombers from underneath and which then opened fire with their quadruple machine guns. The German crews must have been aware of their approach and the fear and no doubt panic as the British bullets ripped into their bomber, crippling their aircraft.
Some bombers managed to struggle back to France, others like this crew were not so lucky-mortally damaged, they limped over the British coast with France and safety just in view, their bomber descended towards the Channel and eventually flopped onto the surface of the sea. It is not known if this crew baled out or whether they were in the plane when it hit the water. Two survived-picked up by whom it isn’t known but they spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war in Britain and latterly Canada before returning to their families in 1946. Two died-their bodies being washed ashore in Holland and the south coast of England, countries where they still remain buried."
