_{First in France}

Not an East Anglian Aircraft Research Group recovery, but as I was involved and as it was a particularly historic incident I couldn't resist including it.

No 1 Squadron arrived in France five days after the declaration of war in September 1939. Flying from their peacetime base at Tangmere they were the first of the four RAF Hurricane units to land in France. Originally part of the Air Component; with 73 Squadron they were attached to the Advanced Air Striking Force as cover for their Blenheim and Battle equipped squadrons. After short stays at Octeville and Norrent-Fontes they made their home at Vassincourt, where they would remain until the following May and the German invasion of Western Europe.

During the first months of the ‘Phoney War’ the Hurricane squadrons duties revolved around patrols and chasing off Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft. However it wasn’t until Monday 30^th October that the RAF was able to claim their first German aircraft shot down over France since 1918. The Operations Record Book of No. 1 squadron recorded the incident in matter of fact fashion;

“30/10/39           Local patrol maintained throughout the day. At 14:30 hrs three enemy aircraft were seen at a high altitude over the aerodrome. The aerodrome defence section immediately took off in pursuit and one of the raiders was overtaken at 18,000ft ten miles west of Toul and shot down by P/O Mould. The other two escaped in cloud. The enemy shot down was a Dornier and appeared to have been taken by surprise as no evasive tactics were employed and no fire was encountered by P/O Mould”

Fellow No 1 Sqn pilots P/O Paul Richey and Sgt Soper took off in pursuit of the Dornier, but to no avail, and after a fruitless 15 minute search they returned to Vassincourt. Peter 'Boy' Mould had just finished refueling after a patrol when the German flew over, he took off immediately and using the supercharger override climbed to 18,000ft where caught up with his victim as Paul Richey recounted in his famous book, ‘Fighter Pilot’

“He did an ordinary straight astern attack, and fired one longish burst with his sights starting above the Dornier and moving slowly round the fuselage. The Hun caught fire immediately, went into a vertical spiral, and eventually made a large hole in the French countryside. It exploded on striking the ground, and there were no survivors. The remains of a gun from the machine, together with a bullet-holed oxygen bottle now adorned our Mess.”

The Dornier Do17P, a twin camera equipped photo-reconnaissance aircraft from 2(F)123, was destroyed in the crash. All three of the crew were killed. Hauptmann Balduin von Norman und Audenhove, Oberleutnant Hermann Heisterbergk and Feldwebel Friedrich Pfeuffer were buried locally by the French. They were later reinterred in a common grave in the German military cemetery at Andilly. 2(F)123 were based at Wüzburg under the direct command of Luftflotte 3; Von Normann led the unit of 12 aircraft until his death in the crash. 

Boy Mould, (above) a Cranwell trained officer was heavily involved in the fighting in France in May 1940, his actions there were recognised with a DFC and, in common with most of the No.1 squadron pilots, a posting to a quieter unit once back in Britain after the fall of France for rest. Therefore he took no active part in the Battle of Britain, but in May 1941, with rank of Squadron Leader, he took command of 185 Sqn in Malta. Leading a patrol to intercept an Italian raid on 1^st October 1941, he was shot down and killed. At that time his tally stood at 11 aircraft shot down. He was posthumously awarded a bar to his DFC.

 The Dornier crashed at Traveron, a very small hamlet on the Meuse in Eastern France, about 20 miles South West of Nancy. Eye-witnesses described the event, it had apparently crashed with great ‘violemment’ leaving a crater 4 metres deep and 7 to 8 metres across, and as far as anyone there knew, the engines still laid buried at the site. Fragments littered the surface, the some  pieces still bearing light blue paint, just as in Paul Richey’s account. One of the first pieces to come out of the ground when wiped clean was revealed to be a Blohm und Voss plate identifying our plane as Do17P Werke No 4414. Locals also said that the wreck had been allowed to burn itself out for two days. The truth of this was evident from the large amount of ash and corrosion present. Although this searched carefully, (below right) the only evidence that this was the fuselage area was several pieces of cockpit glazing framework. To either side of this area were the remains of the engines, one at about 9 feet deep was totally destroyed, the other was a little deeper, but almost as badly damaged. Above the second was an undercarriage unit, and three very corroded propeller blades. The remains of this engine, even though it was the better one, was hardly any bigger than the propeller hub. The generator / starter units of both engines yielded makers plates confirming the power plants as BMW 132N radials. A couple more plates came to light, both with the rare Do17P stamp.(above)

Despite both the report and the witnesses stating that the Germans were shot down by one long burst of machine gun fire from ‘Boy’ Mould, only one piece was found with what could confidently be claimed to be a bullet hole. Interestingly, although one recalled the attack as the report stated, he was adamant that the action had taken place at low level, but the depth and angle of the engines suggest that the Dornier came down from a greater altitude and at about 80°.

The bullet holed piece being examined.