Date:	Sunday 3 January 1943
Time:	21:30
Type:	Dornier Do 217 E-4
Owner/operator:	9./KG 2 Luftwaffe
Registration:	4314
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	out Newton, Skeffling, Yorkshire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The first German bomber raid on England in 1943 took place in the evening of 3 January and the target was Hull docks. The IX. Fliegerkorps dispatched I. and III./KG 2 together with a part of II./KG 40, for a total of 23 Do 217s. The weather was very poor and if was difficult for the German crews to follow the planned course. Three turned back due to technical defects, three bombed alternative targets (Whiternsea, Hornsea and an airfield on the coast). 15 crews claimed to have bombed Hull between 2032 and 2056 hrs, dropping 14 tons of HE and 2.95 tons of incendiary bombs on "the docks and in the adjacent northern and western parts of the city, where numerous fires break out."

Actually, according to British reports only two of the ten attacking aircraft reached Hull and only one bombed. At 2030 hrs two HE bombs fell on the bankside of river Hull and Sissons Wharf, where a length of timber wharf was demolished. There were no casualties. The sirens sounded after the bombs had been dropped. Many aircraft released their bombs over farmland east of Hull or in the sea.

Two Do 217s were lost during this raid, one being shot down by AA fire over England (4 POW) and one crashing in Netherlands on the way back (4 KIA).
_______________________________________________

The Do 217 E-4 WNr 4314 U5+KT of 9./KG 2 was fired upon by a Royal Artillery heavy Anti-Aircraft battery near Skeffling in the Holderness area. Its left engine was hit at 6,000 ft. The aircraft was badly damaged but the pilot was able to effect a belly landing near Out Newton, Skeffling, Withernsea at 2130 hrs and the crew of four survived the forced landing. They set their aircraft on fire and they succeeded in destroying the cockpit before being captured single handedly by Pte Leonard Medforth, a member of the Skeffling Auxiliary Unit Patrol.

Crew (all captured):
Uffz Anton Ries (pilot)
Obgfr Horst Küster (observer)
Uffz Arno Salz (radio)
Uffz Alfred Muschiol (flying engineer)

The remaining wreckage was recovered by 60 MU. A new cutter device for severing barrage balloon cables was found to have been fitted to the nose of this aircraft. Most of the rear fuselage and tail of the Dornier, outer wing sections and an engine were placed on public display in Queen’s Gardens, Hull for several weeks after the incident. A photograph of the wreckage on display in Hull appeared in the Hull Daily Mail two weeks after it had been shot down.

“Der Luftkrieg in Europa: die operativen Einsätze des Kampfgeschwaders 2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg”, by Ulf Balke. ISBN 3-7637-5882-8
http://www.ne-diary.bpears.org.uk/Inc/ISeq_31.html
http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/yorkshire/york43/u5kt.html
https://www.facebook.com/KingstonUponHullDuringTheWar/posts/613583822040038
"The Blitz Then and Now, volume 3. May 1941 – March 1945", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-58-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeffling
https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/hu120uu

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
04-Dec-2017 19:21	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
24-Mar-2020 11:07	DB	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]
18-May-2020 17:40	TigerTimon	Updated [Source, Narrative]
19-Jan-2022 09:50	TigerTimon	Updated [Aircraft type]
19-Jan-2022 09:50	TigerTimon	Updated [[Aircraft type]]