Ju88 6213 of KG76

May 8th 1941. The crew of Junkers 88 6213 had successfully dropped their bombs on Liverpool and were heading home when downed by either anti-aircraft fire south of Manchester, or the Boulton Paul Defiant night fighters sent up to intercept them.

Pilot Major D H von Ziehlberg, holder of the Iron Cross, had radioed his intent to abandon the aircraft. However, with one wing ablaze, the Ju88 crashed near The Roaches in Staffordshire, killing all on board. Apparently one crew member, Georg Mahl, was found some metres distant from the others, suggesting he managed to bale out, but alas was too close to the ground to have time to deploy his parachute.

At the crash site (grid reference SK00407 64709) all that remains are lumps of molten aluminium, nothing recognisable as coming from an aircraft. Any such remains have long since been nicked. A scout about in the vegetation nearby might reveal the odd fragment of perspex and in the undergrowth all the way down to the stream there are more lumps of aluminium.

crew;
Major Dietrich Heistermann von Ziehlberg (Pilot)
Oberleutnant Walter Lemke (observer)
Oberfeldweber Rudolf Schwalbe (Wireless Operator)
Feldweber Georg Mahl (Air Gunner)

Below; Graves of the crew at the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase

winter visit

This Heinkel He-111 was shot down near Stockport the same night