"Meine Freunden, ihre Ziel: Southampton."
Oberstleutnant Hans Korte gestured to the map on the easel behind him. As usual, the briefing for the day's raid took place outdoors, in the shadow at the forest's edge. The Heinkels of Kampfgeschwader 55 were to attack Supermarine's Woolston Works in Southampton. If they did their work well, Korte emphasised, the RAF's main supply of Spitfires would be interrupted, potentially swinging the advantage back to the Luftwaffe in a battle which had lately turned sour. Ever since those blasted British bombers had raided Berlin, and the Luftwaffe had been turned to blitzing London in reprisal, the fights had repeatedly gone in the RAF's favour. "Aber ohne Spitfeuer," he said, "was machen sie noch?"
Perhaps Korte, and his superiors who had planned the raid, would have been given pause had they realised the extent of the dispersal programme; destroying the works at Woolston, while it would certainly cause trouble for the RAF, would hardly be a knock-out blow. However, unknown to the Germans, something else was taking shape on the bank of the Itchen: the two prototypes of R.J. Mitchell's big bomber, at that time known only as the "Supermarine B.12/36 aircraft" or the "Type 317". Powered by four Bristol Hercules radial engines, it was projected to lift as much as 21,000lb of bombs — nearly ten tons.
"Der Start wird in 20 Minuten. Das ist alles," Korte finished the briefing, and walked over to his aircraft. Standing by the fuselage, near the black identification letters G1 + AC, he exchanged a few remarks with his crew, before they climbed aboard the Heinkel 111 and began pre-takeoff checks. The raid was carefully timed: they would arrive over the target about fifteen minutes after a Jabo Geschwader, who would shake up the defences and hopefully exhaust the fuel of the RAF fighters.
The Gruppe had taken off and joined formation with its two fellow Gruppen of KG.55, based at other nearby airfields. Keeping position to Korte's port was Hauptmann Schlemell, who, the Oberstleutnant knew, would be annoyed not to be leading his Gruppe. As commander of KG.55, Korte was supposed to limit his flying time, lest he suffer the same fate as the previous commander, Stoeckl, who had been shot down six weeks earlier; but for a raid on a key target like this, he was determined to lead from the front. Now the bombers had reached altitude and were approaching the English Channel.
"Wo sind unsere kleinen Freunde?" asked Korte. The fighter escort was late — as usual, he thought — and the RAF were bound to have a squadron or two up to meet them over the target.
"Dort nach links," said the radio operator, "sie kommen jetzt nach unten."
As the first Jagdstaffel moved into position above the bomber formation, a loud crackling and popping noise erupted from the starboard engine of Korte's Heinkel.
"Verdammt," he swore, "Motorschaden."
Both Korte and his navigator tried every trick to recover a surging engine, but to no avail. The propellor was feathered, and the aircraft, losing speed, dropped out of formation.
"Der Stellvertreter wird in Kommando gestellt," Korte broadcast to the Geschwader. At least now Schlemell will get his chance, he thought, as he turned his stricken bomber homeward.
The navigator in Hauptmann Schlemell's crew fidgeted. "Wir sollten Swanage schon gesehen." The formation was approaching the south coast of England, and landforms were coming into view.
"Könnte es sein?" replied Schlemell, pointing at a headland.
"Ja, selbstverständlich," said the navigator, "dreimal Rolf machen."
But in fact this was Selsey Bill, and instead of taking them over the New Forest, the turn led the bombers across the South Downs. As they flew on, and Southampton failed to appear, Schlemell became more and more agitated, while his navigator frantically re-read his maps.
"Ach!" the nav. exclaimed. "Horsham steht da unten, der Ziel liegt im Westen."
But it was too late, for cloud was rolling in over the target. Rather than lead the Geschwader into a fruitless attack on a defended target, Schlemell ordered the formation to attack Horsham town centre. After all, he thought, there's no point in wasting the bombs.
Report of Day Air Raids, 26/9.
An attempted raid on the London Docks by approximately 20-plus Dorniers was
intercepted by 11 Group and dispersed. A formation of 20-plus Messerschmitt
110s attacked the Supermarine works at Woolston, but bombing was inaccurate
and the factory buildings are undamaged. 30-plus aircraft of unidentified
type attacked Horsham, causing 139 casualties, no damage of military
significance. Several individual fighter-bombers made hit-and-run attacks
London and Colchester over the course of the day.
Refer to Fighter Command report for details of air combats.
Internal MAP Memorandum dated 26th Sept.
Re. B.12/36, raids of Tuesday and today not significantly impacted schedule.
Vickers-S.marine says still expect 1st flt prototype December.