Shot Down by WHAT?

Blackburn Skua
(Read me)

Inspired by RHT447's comment from yesterday, I went chasing the Bolton-Paul Defiant, a rather cool looking aircraft with a turret for the rear gunner. But, while chasing that story I found another, even more interesting story. That bird in the lead photo was, like many 1930's designs, pretty much obsolete by the time the Panzers rolled into Poland in September of 1939. But here's the twist, that rather awkward looking kite scored a number of aviation firsts in WWII.

Three Skuas off of the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal attacked a German U-Boat (U-30) on the surface. All three aircraft dropped on the boat which managed to dive before being damaged. Two of the Skuas were damaged by the bomb blasts and they had to ditch. U-30 then surfaced and took the crews of those two aircraft prisoner. So, first naval air POWs of WWII.

You got shot down by your own bombs?

That was on the 14th of September 1939, scarcely two weeks after the start of the war. But the Skuas scored one for their own side later in the month when three Skuas of 803 Naval Air Squadron shot down a Dornier Do-18 flying boat.

Dornier Do-18
(Source)

This was the first confirmed kill by British aircraft in WWII. The first actual kill was that shoot down of a Messerschmitt Bf-109 on the 20th of September by our old friend the Fairey Battle. But that wasn't confirmed until later. ("What do you mean ours doesn't count?" asked the furious Battle crew.)

But the really big deal first scored by the Skuas of the Fleet Air Arm was in the waters around Norway in the spring of 1940.

German light cruiser Königsberg

On 10 April 1940, 16 Skuas of 800 and 803 NAS led by Lieutenant Commander William Lucy, flying from RNAS Hatston in the Orkney Islands, sank the German cruiser Königsberg in Bergen harbour during Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway.

Königsberg was the first major warship ever sunk in war by air attack and the first major warship ever to be sunk by dive bombing. Lucy later also became a fighter ace flying the Skua. These two mostly-Skua squadrons suffered heavy losses during an attempt to bomb the German battleship Scharnhorst at Trondheim on 13 June 1940; of 15 aircraft in the raid, eight were shot down and the crews killed or taken prisoner. Among the latter were both squadron commanders, Captain R. T. Partridge (RM) and Lieutenant Commander John Casson (RN). (Source)

Later, during the Battle of France, Skuas were fairly easy meat for the Messerschmitt Bf-109s and Me-110s of the Luftwaffe and were mostly withdrawn from service. The crew of one Skua had a film based on an incident over Norway where three Skuas knocked down a German He-111 bomber.

Three British Royal Navy Blackburn Skuas operating from HMS Ark Royal attacked the Heinkel He 111 and knocked out the Germans' port engine. The German aircraft crashed 1,000 meters above sea level in a remote mountain area, miles from any major road. The German tail gunner Hans Hauck was dead when the bomber crashed.

Captain R.T. Partridge, squadron leader of the 800 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, experienced a failing engine in his Skua and glided down to land on a frozen lake. He had seen a small hut nearby and he and his radio operator, Lieutenant Bostock, hiked through heavy snow to the deserted reindeer hunters' cabin. A few minutes later, they were alerted by a whistle and saw the three survivors of the German Heinkel armed with pistols and knives. Speaking broken German and English, the British managed to persuade the Germans that they were the crew of a Vickers Wellington bomber, rather than the fighter that had shot them down. The Germans believed that they had been shot down by a Supermarine Spitfire.

In Luftkampfgegner wurden Freunde ("Air combat opponents became friends"), Horst Schopis wrote in his memoirs:

As it was getting dark Captain Partridge suggested that the Germans stay in the hut. The two British officers left and found a small chalet, which turned out to be the Grotli Hotel, which was closed for the winter. The German crew arrived the next morning and shared breakfast. It was agreed that the Captain R. T. Partridge and the German Karl-Heinz Strunk would try to locate other people. They met a Norwegian ski patrol. Strunk shouted out "Ingleesh". The Norwegian patrol fired a warning shot at which Partridge fell to the ground and Strunk placed his hands on his head. Lieutenant Bostock emerged from the hotel, suspecting that the German had shot Partridge, but instead saw Strunk apparently reaching for his pistol. One of the Norwegians, seeing this, shot him. (Source)

While the film made from the incident, Into the White, wasn't all that successful and was panned by a number of critics, I liked it. It's available for rent on Amazon Prime and is worth a couple of bucks to watch. An interesting tale of enemies forced by circumstances to cooperate.

Rather disappointingly, the Skua doesn't really get any air time in the film.

Oddly enough only two Skuas still exist, neither intact, both were lost during the Norwegian campaign but the wreckage of both aircraft were discovered underwater, including the one flown by Captain Partridge. I'm guessing the aircraft sank into the lake when the ice melted. At any rate, they found it!

No intact Skuas survive. In April 2007 the only known nearly complete Blackburn Skua was discovered in Orkdalsfjorden in Norway at 242 metres depth. Due to an engine failure, the Skua, flown by John Casson, leader of 803 Squadron, had to make an emergency water landing in the fjord. Both crew members survived and spent the next five years as prisoners of war. Despite efforts to raise the aircraft to the surface as gently as possible, the tail broke off. The engine had become detached in the ditching. The fuselage, cockpit and wings were salvaged. The Skua will be restored at Norway's aviation museum in Bodø.

In 1974, L2940 was recovered from Breidalsvatnet lake, near Grotli in Skjåk municipality in Norway. Captain R. T. Partridge (RM) shot down a Heinkel He 111 and then made an emergency landing on the ice-covered lake on 27 April 1940. Survivors from both aeroplanes independently made their way to a mountain lodge, where they encountered each another. This incident serves as the basis for the film Into the White. (Source)

Blackburn Skua L2940 wreck on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum
(Source)

Blackburn Skua cutaway drawing
(Source)

An interesting aircraft and a bit of history I didn't know.