Crash Site Heinkel He 111 P2 1482

On 3rd May 1941 Heinkel He 111 P-2 1482 of KG 27 was shot down by a RAF Beaufighter of 604 Squadron flown by Squadron Leader J. Cunningham DSO DFC and Sergeant C. F. Rawnsley crashing on Wheatsheaf Farm, Corton Denham, Somerset.

Pilot Hans Olt Zollner. Captured
Observer Erwin Ehlers. Captured
Radio Operator. Albert Amode. Killed
Flight Engineer. Florian Piechota. Captured

Albert Amode was originally buried in Wincanton Cemetery but was moved to the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
2 of the Germans surrendered to two Sherborne schoolboys the next day.

Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) John Cunningham, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, AE was nicknamed 'Cats Eyes' by the British Press to explain his success by 'eating carrots' to improve his night vision rather than give clues to the airborne radar the Beaufighter was equipped with. Cunning and Rawnsley flew together for most of WW2. 604 Squadron was operating from RAF Middle Wallop during 1940/41.

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Source

• Text: Sharky Ward
• Photos: F. Hesse (1), See page for author, (2), Photograph taken by RAF personnel (3), Royal Air Force Official Photographer (4)