Crash of a Heinkel He 111 – 10 June 1941
On Tuesday, 10 June 1941, a Heinkel He 111 took off from Buc airfield (near Versailles, France) on a weather reconnaissance flight along the south coast of England and in St George’s Channel.
Between take-off and 8.35 am, eight weather reports were transmitted without interference. At 8.45 am, the ninth report showed the first signs of “enemy interference”. After that, radio traffic remained quiet until 10.35 am, when a “jjj” was transmitted – the abbreviation for “enemy fighter aircraft”. The reconnaissance aircraft was then called to fly back, but the crew no longer responded.
The shooting down
The British coastal radar station had detected the
Heinkel, and two Royal Air Force fighter pilots
flew up to intercept it. They shot down the aircraft,
which then crashed near Nethertown (County Wexford, Ireland). All five crew members were
killed
and were initially buried in Crosstown Cemetery, Co.
Wexford, before being moved to Glencree in 1959.
Special artefacts
After the crash, personal items belonging to the
crew were found, including Alois Mittermeier’s
diary and a tin tube with a script on a paper scroll.
This capsule contained a text in Hebrew that corresponds to the Ten Commandments. The origin
or affiliation of this document remains unclear to
this day.
- Corporal Alois Mittermeier, on-board radio operator, was born on 7 April 1916 in Pichelsdorf, Bavaria. In his diary, he noted the contact details of his partner, who was to be informed in the case of his death. She later married and named her daughter after him Aloysia.
- Sergeant Josef Niebauer, gunner, was born on 18 January 1915 in Welden, Bavaria. Two days before the accident, he had completed a similar flight without incident. His sister remembered him in 2012 as an “honourable and cheerful young man”.
- Corporal Hubert Modrzejewski, on-board radio operator, was born on 8 October 1919 in Damsdorf, Pomerania.
- Colour Sergeant Rudolf Peschmann, pilot, was born on 24 October 1914 in Moschendorf, Bavaria and was married.
- Councillor Dr. Herbert Rumpf, meteorologist, was born on 27 May 1909 in Uthleben, Thuringia.
We would like to thank Kevin Sills for the informative material he made available to us. Eva Bednarczyk and Leni Piotrowski – students of Eichendorffschule Wolfsburg, Germany. March 2025