Junkers Ju88A-5 0662 / M2+CK of 3 Staffel / Küstenfliegergruppe 906 crashed at Newlands near Lennoxtown on the 7th May 1941

 

Werner Coenen	Oberleutnant	Pilot	Killed
Gerd Hansmann	Hauptmann	Observer	Killed
Ernst Langanki	Oberfeldwebel	Radio Operator	Survived
Willi Müller	Feldwebel	Gunner	Survived

 

The aircraft had taken off from a base in Holland on the 6th May 1941 as part of a large attack against Glasgow and Greenock. At 02:00 on the 7th while approaching its target at between 10,000 and 12,000ft it was engaged by a Defiant nightfighter from No.141 Squadron operating from RAF Ayr. The pilot of the Defiant, Squadron Leader Edward Chatham Wolfe, was able to formate with the aircraft allowing his gunner, Sergeant Alfred Ashcroft, to direct fire at the Ju88 following which control was lost and it began to dive towards the ground. The crew began to abandon the aircraft with two successfully using their parachutes, however the parachutes of both the observer and pilot never opened and both were killed.

Without its crew onboard the Ju88 dived into moorland near Newlands above the town of Lennoxtown in East Dunbartonshire where it exploded on impact, at least one of its bomb detonated during the impact scattering wreckage over a wide area and leaving a 15ft deep crater in the soft ground.

The Küstenfliegergruppes were coastal reconnaissance and naval support groups, but they were also engaged in normal bombing sorties.

The two officers who were killed are buried in differnet cemeteries, Oberleutnant Coenen is buried at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery while Hauptmann Hansmann is buried locally to the crash site in Lennoxtown.

Shortly afterwards Squadron Leader Wolfe was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, as a cumulative award which included his part in the downing of the aircraft.