Research and text by George Karelas

Photos: Jean-Louis Roba archives

From unpublished photographs by Jean-Louis Roba and research in the RAF ORBs a possible identification of an attack by the 252 Squadron of the RAF against 6 small Kriegsmarine boats may finally be achieved.

The only information that was available with the photographs was that it was an attack by a Beaufighter squadron on 16.05.1944 against landing craft of the 780th Engineer Landing Company (Pionier Landungskompanie 780) which was based in Rhodes.

I thought that a possible loss of a British plane in the area might be connected to the event.

The Beaufighters are seen attacking the German convoy. Photo: Jean-Louis Roba

After research I found in the archives of the 252 Squadron the event described below.

The translation was made with the help of Artificial Intelligence as the AIR 27/1509/10 in the National Archives is not so clear.

The AIR 27/1509/10 in the National Archives documenting the attack

So we learned…

At 04:51, at position 3715N (from my own effort probably 36°30’00.0″N 27°15’00.0″E), six 80-foot landing craft were attacked four times by all aircraft (4 in number) that dropped 18 x 251-pound bombs and shells, in addition to machine gun fire and cannon fire.

The craft hit aircraft “B”, which withdrew after its third attack with smoke coming from the right engine and plunged into the sea in flames.

No survivors were found.

“C” was hit during the first attack in the navigator’s compartment.

The navigator was wounded in the forehead and ankle.

The left engine was hit, later landing with wing damage and one engine successfully on base.

Possible approximate location of the Beaufighter shot down on 18 May 1944 with the loss of both crew members

Key Incident Details
• Losses: Aircraft NE 881 “B” (Humphries & Johns) was shot down during the third attack and lost.
• Aircraft NE 854 “C” suffered severe damage to the left engine and navigation compartment, but managed to return to base with only one engine.
• Injuries: The Pilot of aircraft “C” (Sergeant A.E. Potter) suffered shrapnel wounds to the forehead and ankle.

In the photographs we can see a landing craft Pil boot, a fast minesweeper Raumboot and a Kriegsfischkutter near the coast of a Greek island. RAF Beaufighters can be seen attacking them.

The location of the Beaufighter loss is given as 8 miles south of Nisyros, from what I can see I find a spot roughly between Nisyros and Tilos.

If indeed the photographs are identical to this attack the British probably wrote that the loss occurred 800 meters from the coast of Nisyros and was recorded as miles.

If anyone can identify the coastlines that are visible as those in the photograph their help would be invaluable.