UKDIVING
– Small pink sea fan colonies ( Eunicella verrucosa ) close to the starboard engine visible in the background .
Sandalled anemones ( Actinothoe sphyrodeta ) growing on the main wing spar .
contact any potential descendants have reached an impasse .
So who shot the plane down ? The crew reported having been attacked by multiple fighters .
The squadron and pilot Combat Reports from 7th October ( indeed from many of the days of the Battle of Britain ) were not always the easiest to decipher . This is hardly surprising given that upon landing these young men , pumped full of adrenaline , had to write their Combat Reports in haste as they could be back airborne again at any minute .
Up to three pilots may have shot at Bf110 3U + DD , which now lies just south of Worbarrow Bay . But we cannot say which pilot , with any certainty , administered the Coup de Grace .
Our belief , based on the pilots ’ accounts of the day , is that it was most likely 24-year old Flying Officer John Dundas , DFC and Bar . His Combat Report of his attack on a Bf110 tallies with the report of the county Chief Constable in terms of both location and time of day . As a nice coincidence , Dundas flew with 609 Squadron , the same number of Martin and Sheilah ’ s BSAC club , Basingstoke 609 !
“ Bundesarchiv , Bild 101I-377-2801-013 / Jakobsen [ Jacobsen ] / CC-BY-SA 3.0 ”
Bf110 briefing
The Messerschmitt Bf110 was designed as a heavy fighter-destroyer to repel bomber squadrons . The planes made some gains in early campaigns over mainland Europe but soon suffered from their lack of manoeuvrability . One German pilot commented that “ the 110 was a safe , easy aeroplane to fly , but it was slow like molasses . What if we encountered Spitfires ? In a 110 ? Get the hell out of there . Get away .” With no other bomber escorts with the range to cross the Channel the Luftwaffe had little choice but to continue using them . Like many aircraft of WWII , Bf110s had several design iterations and later found their niche as formidable , radar-equipped , night fighters .
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