A first for Scots RAF hero
YOUR mention (Mail) of the very first German plane downed over Britain brought back memories.
This was the ‘Humbie Heinkel’ which came down in the Lammermuirs on October 28, 1939.
Several German planes had flown from the Frisian island of Sylt.
Their initial target was ships on the Firth of Clyde but cloud prevented an attack.
They turned back and dropped bombs on the Forth – whether they were aiming at the Forth Bridge or Royal Navy ships coming out of Rosyth Dockyard is not clear.
But Spitfires from the RAF’s 602 City of Glasgow squadron at Drem airfield were quickly on them.
Other Spitfires from 603 City of Edinburgh joined the melee.
Flight Lieutenant Archie McKellar was with 602 and put a burst of fire into one bomber.
It was forced down and some say ran along the ground for a half-mile or so before briefly lifting off and then crashing. The pilot, Kurt Lehmkuhl, was wounded and, with his navigator, taken to Edinburgh Castle as prisoners of war.
Two other crewmen in the Heinkel bomber were dead.
Flight Lieutenant McKellar, 27 at the time, was killed in combat the following year.
My grandmother lived near Humbie and kept us all enthralled with the story – she was one of the hundreds who trudged out into the hills to see the wreckage.
Fiona JeFFries, edinburgh.