Image #1: eBay auction, December 2021
Above photograph was very likely taken on 14.10.1940 or shortly after at Gilze Rijen airfield. In his post war account, Uffz. Hans Reimann of 2./NJG2 recalled the particular event, RL 10/588:
"On October 1st, the two Gruppen of NJG1 became the nucleus of new Geschwader. We [comment: 5th Staffel of NJG1] became 2nd Staffel of NJG 2. While the unit leadership positions remained unchanged, a fourth Staffel was added to the previously three.
Uffz. Götz got very lucky when he landed his aircraft resulting in a belly landing. On 14.10.1940 he returned in the early morning from an intruder mission over England. Very dense, low fog severely impeded the crew's visibility of their surroundings, so they considered the well illuminated rail road lines part of the the airfield landing illuminations, bringing down their aircraft too early. The aircraft's landing gear first touched down on the rail levy, the aircraft bounced into the air and then crashed to the ground. At the crash site, the aircraft was a total wreck and it appeared a small miracle that the crew of Uffz. Götz, Uffz. Dreher and Uffz. Harden survived."
The official record in Gen.Qu.M 6. Abt. Flugzeugunfälle und Verluste bei den Verbänden of 15.10.1940, RL 2 III/735, below describes the event as 80% damage to Dornier 17 Z R4+DK, Werknummer 2851, "crash landing due to pilot's error - Bedienungsfehler".
Reimann's report did not exaggerate: the photograph reveals that through the crash's impact the fuselage almost broke apart right behind the wings. Panels on the port wing and engine port cowling appear dislodged. In comparable photographs of less damaged belly landed aircraft the bent propeller blades can often be seen, see images #4, 5 and 6.
Closer assessment of the photograph shows that R4+DK retained the regular upper surface camouflage RLM 70 black green and RLM 71 dark green on fuselage and wings whereas the lower part of the fuselage was painted in a dull black. A similar scheme is documented of a Dornier 17 Z-7 Kauz I:
Image #2: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=503&t=51267&start=45 - post by Mirek glock Riha, December 24 2014; also Urbanke, 2006 p.12
Note the straight line between black and green on above Kauz and R4+DK compared to below rear view of R4+ZK, which appears much more provisional and completely covers the fuselage Balkenkreuz. In the early months of night intruding training and operations three camouflage schemes were applied to Dornier 17 Z Kauz aircraft: initially, they carried the same combination as day destroyers, later the scheme described here with the undersurfaces painted in black, and eventually aircraft carried an all-black camouflage.
Image #3: eBay auction, own collection
Due to the seller's potential obscuring of the German national insignia, the paint scheme of the vertical tailplane cannot be discerned. It appears to carry the white outlines of a swastika, just visible in the lower third of the stabilizer. It is also possible that the Hakenkreuz has been overpainted in black similarly to the black paint application on R4+ZK, above image #3. The fuselage Balkenkreuz of R4+DK has been toned down, and the unit marking is applied in light grey.
Comparison of the three photograph highlights several other small differences. The Kauz in image #2 lacks the circular antenna Peilrahmen PR 3 that is visible on top of the R4+ZK cockpit canopy. The latter carries two additional MG in the rear starboard and port windows, a feature seen on Dornier 17 Z-3 bombers. The gloomy atmosphere of image #1 matches Reimann's weather description of low fog at Gilze Rijen, where all three photographs above are said to be taken.
Another well documented crash landing of a Dornier 17 Z-7 Kauz is that of R4+HK W.Nr. 2817, piloted by Ofw. Herbert Schmid a little less than a month later on November 9th 1940, equally at Gilze Rijen.
Image #4: Möhlenbeck, Leihse, 1975 p. 80; also Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Signatur VI.1.006-03937 B. Lange
Image #5: Möhlenbeck, Leihse, 1975 p.97; also Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Signatur VI.1.006-03939 B. Lange
Image #6: Leihse, 1977 p.8; also Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Signatur VI.1.006-03938 B. Lange
Image #7: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=503&t=51267&start=30, post by Mirek glock Riha, May 12 2013
Image #8: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=503&t=51267&start=30, post by Mirek glock Riha, May 12 2013
It appears from images #4 and #8 that the upper wing and top fuselage surfaces are of a lighter color than the front, engine covers and the fuselage, although this may be the visual effect of reflections from upwards facing surfaces. That the application of black almost to the top of the fuselage is not a unique feature is demonstrated through the photograph of R4+ZK. Additional commonalities among these I./NJG2 aircrafts are that R4+HK has its fuselage Balkenkreuz overpainted and its spinner tips in white.
Werknummer 2817 and 2851 are among 16 Dornier 17 Z that were converted to Kauz specification for night fighter operations, Olrog, 2017 p.185. Mikael Olrog states that 2851 was initially converted to Z-7 Kauz I design, and later converted to Z-10 Kauz II, ditto. In which form it was operated on October 14th is not documented as far as I am aware. Considering the degree of damage to the aircraft on October 14th, it is likely that is was written off. So if Olrog is correct about the conversation to Z-10 specification, this conversation would have happened prior to the crash.
Among the crew members that flew R4+DK in late summer and fall 1940 was radio operator Kurt Wacker. Wacker's flight log for the night of 25.09. to 26.09.1940 includes his record of an intruder mission in R4+DK over England for which the crew under pilot Uffz. Theophil Bock departed Gilze Rijen at 01:40hrs and returned at 03:35hrs with the note that they returned early due to bad weather. Wacker describes their Dornier Do 17 Z as "Kauz", unfortunately - for us researchers - without more specificity.
Just three days earlier, during the night of 22.09. to 23.09.1940, Wacker, Bock and Josef Rothehüser flew a mission north of Lincoln for more than 4 hours returning at 05:25hrs. This time their aircraft carried the unit markings G9+DN of 5./NJG1. While several sources state that I./NJG2 was officially created from II./NJG1 on October 1st 1940, including Reimann's account above, Wacker's flight log and those of others document that the unit code R4 for NJG2 was in use prior to that date, as early as beginning of September 1940 for Junkers 88 C-2 of 3rd Staffel NJG2. And even earlier than that, the Soldbuch of Fw Schöttke contains an entry that he was "transferred" from 6./NJG1 to 3./NJG2 on 23.08.1940, Parker, 2014 p.753.
It is possible that R4+DK and G9+DN may very well be two designations for the same aircraft, Dornier 17 Z Kauz, W.Nr. 2851. In addition to the entry in Wacker's flight log, flights of Dornier 17 Z G9+DN are documented in Hermann Sommer's Flugbuch for 11.09.1940 and 29.08.1940. By early September, II./NJG1 operated from Gilze Rijen airfield. Prior to that, the routine of the early night intruder - Fernnachtjagd - crews was to transfer from their base at Düsseldorf to Amsterdam Schiphol in the late afternoon, embark on their intruder mission later at night with returns to Schiphol in the early mornings, and finally transferring back to Düsseldorf in the morning, or after some sleep around noon. See Hermann Sommer's log entries for 23.07. and 24.07.1940.
During July and August 1940 several occasions are documented in which Dornier 17 Z were flown with the unit code 2N+ of 1./ZG1 by crews of NJG1, reflecting the fact that the first Staffel of ZG1 was among those units assigned to form the new night fighter arm. Among several other "Do 17 Z", prior to a flight in G9+DN on 29.08.1940 - the first entry with the new NJG1 marking - Hermann Sommer piloted 2N+DH on 22.08.1940 and 23.08.1940 from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam and back. Prior to that, a flight in 2N+DH is recorded by Herbert Schmid on August 3rd, 1940 when he ferried from Düsseldorf to Schiphol in the afternoon and back later in the evening.
Although this is speculative, in case the individual aircraft letter had been retained through the re-assignments from 1./ZG1 to 5./NJG1 to 2./NJG2, all these documented flights might have taken place in W.Nr. 2851. Thus, parts of the operational history of this particular Dornier 17 Z Kauz might be traced back covering a two months period from early August 1940 to mid October 1940 when it crashed at Gilze Rijen.
References:
Flugzeugunfälle und Verluste bei den Verbänden, RL 2 III/735, Bundesmilitärarchiv, Freiburg
Leihse Manfred, Dornier Do 17 Z Kauz 1 und Kauz 2 in Modell Fan 02/77 p.5-8, 1977, Carl Ed. Schünemann KG, Bremen
Möhlenbeck Otto Dr., Leihse Manfred, Ferne Nachtjagd, 1975, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart
Olrog Mikael: Dornier Do 215 , From Reconnaissance Aircraft to Nightfighter, 2017, Classic Crecy Publishing, Manchester
Parker Nigel, Luftwaffe Crash Archive Volume Six, 2014, Red Kite, Walton-on-Thames
Reimann Hans, Düsseldorf in "Königliche Zwote" Geschichte einer Nachtjagdstaffel 2./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 - später 2./ Nachtjagdgeschwader 6, RL 10/588, Bundesmilitärarchiv, Freiburg
Schmid Herbert, flight log - curtesy of Mikael Olrog
Sommer Hermann, flight log - curtesy of Jim Perry
Urbanke Axel, Luftwaffe im Focus Edition 10, 2006, Luftfahrtverlag Start, Bad Zwischenahn
Wacker Kurt, flight log
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