First Air Raid of WWII – 17

14:30 – Sink the Hood!

Arriving over the Rosyth dockyard at 14.30 hours, Helmut Pohle attempted to locate HMS Hood.  The large cruiser he found and which he mistook for the Hood was in fact HMS Repulse, sister ship to the Hood and almost exactly the same in appearance, hence repeated misidentifications by the reconnaissance aircraft and German intelligence.  Even whilst flying overhead Pohle still saw before him HMS Hood.

But Hood/Repulse was in the dockyard at Rosyth and therefore not a legitimate target. Being a disciplined Luftwaffe officer he was not tempted to break his orders but instead chose to attack one of the two cruisers which lay ahead in the Forth anchored offshore from North Queensferry on the east side of the Forth Rail Bridge. These legitimate targets were HMS Edinburgh and HMS Southampton .

HMS Mohawk. Jervis and the aircraft carrier HMS Furious were also heading up the Forth and would soon become legitimate targets for 1/KG30.

It was 14.32 and as Pohle tipped his aircraft into an 80-degree dive he picked out the Southampton through the Lotfe bombsight.  As Pohle attacked, Storp approached from the southeast.

Pohle later recalled events:

“I came straight as an arrow from Westerland to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, just over the anchor place of the cruisers. I could see the Hood already in the dock of Rosyth. A stationary target, perfect for dive-bombing but we were strictly forbidden to attack this sitting duck. However, in the Forth lay HMS Southampton and HMS Edinburgh at anchor.

I attacked, as the first of twelve Ju88s, the Southampton. But during the dive suddenly there was an almighty crack as the top part of the canopy flew off, taking the rear gun with it.  Although after the dive-attack I was now flying with my crew in a half-open plane, I nevertheless remained in the area to observe the results of the other aircraft.  After the dive-attack from 12,000 feet to 1,800 feet, when I released the bombs, I continued down to 900 feet. I turned right and flew outside the famous bridge in reverse direction. This was to the north coast of the Firth of Forth, to see the other attacks. However, low over the sea and back would have been better!”

The design fault which caused the cockpit canopy to blow off bad occurred during testing at Rechlin. It also took with it the MG15 machine gun which was for the defence of the Junkers from above and behind.