Tyne and Wear HER(13521): Cullercoats, wreck of German Dornier bomber - Details
13521
N Tyneside
Cullercoats, wreck of German Dornier bomber
Cullercoats
NZ37SE
Aircraft Type
Dornier
DO217
Modern
C20
Wreckage
1943 wreck of a German Dornier bomber which was shot down in flames off Cullercoats while on a bombing raid on Hartlepool. The aircraft was Do217 E-4 U5+CR, werk nummer 4393. The crew was missing: Feldwebel Fritz Flohr, pilot; Obergefreiter Erich Tomuschat, observer; Obergefreiter Johannes Knecht, wireless operator and Gefreiter Johannes Menzenbach, gunner. The Luftwaffe's IX Fliegerkorps mustered 50 aircraft for an attack on the shipbuilding and repair centre of Hartlepool on the night of 22-23 March 1943. 44 bombers reached their target by 23.22. Berlin Radio announced that 3 of the aircraft failed to return. One was shot down near Hartlepool. The Scorton-based 219 Squadron gave chase and the combat ended at 1500 feet, 11 miles east of Usworth (12 miles SE of Cullercoats). Tyne and Wear Archives have a map (T383/345) which marks the spot where a Dornier 217 crashed just off the north pier at Cullercoats on 22 March 1943. The builder of the plane was Dornier-Werke GmbH.
3642
7132
NZ36427132
NMR Monument Report Unique Identifier 1402223; Bill Norman, 2002, Broken Eagles 2: Luftwaffe Losses over Northumberland and Durham 1939-1945, pages 190-5