White 11 that Lyric1 posted
On 20 May 1942, Uffz. Oswald Fischer took off from St. Omer/Fort Rouge aerodrome in Northern France to attack shipping in or near Newhaven, harbour installations being designated as an alternative target. Fischer was accompanied by one other aircraft which, like his own, was carrying a single bomb and, with Fischer leading, both aircraft crossed the coast near Le Touquet and flew direct to Newhaven. They then circled until the pilots sighted shipping escorted by corvettes to the south west and swept round to attack. Normally when attacking shipping, Fischer had opened fire during the approach to silence the ship's anti-aircraft fire, but on this occasion his target was only a small corvette and he considered it unnecessary. Fischer then released his bomb at sea-level but it hit the water and bounced over the ship. As Fischer rose to clear the corvette, his engine was hit by machine gun fire and the temperature rose to 160°C. Realising that he would be unable to return to France, he warned the other aircraft by RIT that he intended to make a belly-landing on Beachy Head and was captured after he had fired all the rounds in his pistol into his aircraft's engine. It is believed that the other aircraft of the pair returned safely to France. When interrogated, Fischer, who had earlier flown with 7./JG26 in Libya and France and had been awarded the EK I, claimed to have had 16 victories before volunteering to join the Jabo Staffel in March and, in the four weeks prior to his capture, had made 46 operational flights against a variety of objectives including railway stations, an aerodrome, a colliery, barracks and shipping. These photographs show Uffz. Fischer's 'White 11' being examined by RAF personnel at Beachy Head. The aircraft was subsequently moved to RAE Farnborough for further examination and in August 1943 was taken to RAF Collyweston where its damaged engine, which had flown only for one and a half hours, was replaced and the machine was restored to flying condition. Interestingly, when repainted in RAF camouflage and markings, the original white number and falling bomb emblem were retained.