The last of the Dutch bombers

Marcel · 02-21-2007, 02:29 PM

I was very intrigued by the next story, as I live in Dordrecht, and all this took very near tothis place where I’m living. I hope you enjoy it.

It’s the 13th of may 1940, the 4th day of the German invasion. There is a gap in the first line of defence, he “Grebbelinie” but the seccond, the “Waterlinie” is still holding. Near to Rotterdam, the German airborne troops captured the 2 bridges near Dordrecht, called the Moerdijk bridges, leaving the way to Rotterdam open. In the south, the French army retreated, leaving a big gap open for the Wehrmacht, to circumvent the Dutch defense and getting through to the Moerdijk bridges.

At 5.19h, the LVA (dutch airforce) dispatched the very last Dutch bomber, the Fokker T.V 856 to bomb the Moerdijk Bridges with 2 bombs of 300 kg. The bomber was escorted by 2 Fokker G.I’s (numbers 315 and 308 ), the most potent fighter in the LVA.

The 3 planes very low to avoid the German fighters. When passing Dordrecht, they ascended to an altitude of about 1000m. Shortly before they reached the bridges, they were attacked bij 8 Bf109’s of JG26. While being attacked, the 3 planes first flew over the water, made a 180° turn to the north and attacked the bridge with one of the bombs. They missed the bridge by a mere 50m. They saw that they missed, so they turned and headed back south again. Then they made another 180° tun and attacked the bridge again. They threw the second bomb and this time they hit the bridge. Unfortunately the bomb didn’t explode. After this, the 3 planes flew over Dordrecht, back to Schiphol. They were chased by several Bf109’s. One of the G.I’s was attacked by 4 Messerschmitts, finally killing the pilot, lt. Schoute. The plane crashed in a polder. The gunner tried to bail out, but fell to the ground and died as well.

The T.V Was attacked several times and finally crashed near Ridderkerk, killing all 5 crewmembers. One G.I could escape and safely landed at Schiphol airport at 6 o’clock.

One last strange note. The G.I and the T.V were declared been shot down by Hauptmann Karl Ebbinghausen. His Messerschmitt Bf109 still seems to be on display at the Militairy airforce museum at Duxford, England.

Below, you see a painting of the attack and the wreckage of the T.V after being shot down. Does anyone have a picture of the Bf 109E at Duxford?

pbfoot · 02-21-2007, 03:20 PM

good accounting of a lesser known scrap

v2 · 02-24-2007, 06:01 AM

interesting story, thx..

Marcel · 02-25-2007, 10:08 AM

I found it, nice site about the Bf109E that shot down both planes, G.I and T.V. On the site you will see mentioned a Fokker G.I and a Fokker T.V near Dordrecht.
Duxford's JG26 "Emil"

blue_halloween · 03-13-2007, 08:59 AM

i live about ??? 1km from the Ridderkerese grind.... wheres me metal detector ??

Marcel · 03-15-2007, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue_halloween

i live about ??? 1km from the Ridderkerese grind.... wheres me metal detector ??

Someone already did that, check this out:
Fokker TV recovery, 16 October 2004
(Dutch)

blue_halloween · 03-16-2007, 04:40 AM

The dosnt seem to have been a lot left over ? did you noticed they only appear to have used ground radar and not a metal detector ?The ground radar would pick up deeper larger objects but mis the small stuff. it would still be interesting to have a look

Marcel · 03-18-2007, 10:17 AM

hmm, I guess you're right. t's also not very far from my home, unfortunately I don't have a metal detector

I guess you don't know about the display they're talking about? Could be interesting to see the remains they found. They're also talking about remains of another T.V and a D.XXI.