NASAM – Archive Special

A Tale from the Archives

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Unteroffizier Emil Swientek and Dornier U5+AN

In early August 2023, a small black and white passport-style photo was sent to the museum manager from, we assume, a visitor along with a handwritten note that simply said:

“Emil Swientek, Unteroffizier, born 18.Febr 1914, Died 03.September 1940. Langenhoe crash”

As we checked the item into the Museum’s inventory, we ran a check on the details, such as they were. The surname Swientek didn’t flag anything, but the mention of Langenhoe turned up pure gold. Already on display in Luftwaffe Weg in the main hangar were the remains of a Dornier Do.17 which was shot down and crashed at Langenhoe on the 3^rd of September 1940. It seems that the young NCO in the photograph was a crew member of that aircraft. Unteroffizier (Uffz.) Emil Swientek was 26 at the time of his death, and a sad footnote to the handwritten sheet that accompanied the photo simply stated: “He never saw his daughter.”.

We began to look into the circumstances of his death more closely.

Uffz. Emil Swientek was born in Rocknitz, a small Saxony town several miles to the east of Leipzig in Germany on the 18th of February 1914. He was a member of the Luftwaffe, albeit not a pilot as his rank as an Unteroffizier or NCO, roughly equivalent to a Corporal in the British forces, precluded this. Most likely, although we can’t yet confirm this, he was one of two gunners in a crew that consisted of a pilot, a bombardier and the two airmen who operated the 7.92mm defensive machine guns around the aircraft. The gunners operated the forward-firing MG 15 installed in the front windscreen, the two machine guns located in the side windows (one each side) and the rearward firing weapon. All four men occupied the cockpit area as there were no gun positions behind the bomb load.

Uffz. Swientek was assigned to 5/KG-2 who were flying Dornier Do.17z-2 bombers in raids over the UK. KG-2, or Kampfgeshwader (Battle Wing) 2 had been formed in May of 1939 at Cottbus under the command of Generalmajor Johannes Fink, a noted Luftwaffe pilot and leader. It operated Dornier Do.17 and Do.217 light bombers and the Junkers Ju.188 heavy bombers. The unit took the identifying codes ‘U5’ which were applied, along with an individual code for each aircraft to all their machines.

On the 3^rd of September, as the Battle of Britain reached its height in the summer months of 1940 the Luftwaffe were pressing their bombing raids on Fighter Command airfields across southeast Britain. On that day, Emil Swientek’s unit and, more specifically, his aircraft, Dornier Do.17z-2 Werknummer 3450 and coded “U5+AN”, formed part of a large bombing raid (40+ bombers) accompanied by Me.110 and Me.109 fighter escorts, against the RAF airfield at North Weald, crossing the English coast a little after 10am and following the line of the River Crouch through Essex.

The aircraft didn’t make it to its target as the formation was engaged by the Hurricanes of No 17 Squadron who were based at RAF Debden, just inside the ring of the M25 where it meets the M11 as we would know it today. A number of dogfights broke out, mostly with the fighter escort as four Me.110’s were recorded as damaged or destroyed that morning, but U5+AN was unlucky enough to find itself in the gunsights of a 17 Squadron Hurricane flown by Flying Officer Hanson in the area to the east of RAF North Weald. The Dornier must have sustained significant damage in the attack, but the aircraft struggled a few miles further back east towards the coast, losing height as it went and eventually crashing down onto English soil at Langenhoe, a short distance south of Colchester in Essex. The pilot, Leutnant H K Schmidt (or Schildt as he is listed in the German report) and two of his crew of three others, were killed although it appears that two crew members were able to bail out of the aircraft at some point before the crash, with only one man surviving the jump. It is likely that Uffz. Swientek was still aboard the aircraft at the time of impact. U5+AN was the only German bomber to be shot down that day.

Some detail of the crash has been recorded on the excellent website aircrewremembered.com in the following way:

“KIA 3 September, 1940 after being shot down Flugplatz North Weald by Langenhoe, England by a Hurricane of RAF No. 17 Sq., piloted by F/O Hanson. Two of the crew were seen to bail, however only Fw M. Kriegel survived the jump. The additional crew: Gefr P. Niegisch and Gefr E. Swientek.” The aircraft is noted as being with unit 5/KG-2.

This account records Emil’s rank as Gefreiter (Gefr.) or Airman, while the Family’s note uses Unteroffizier (Uffz.) which implies he was an NCO, probably Corporal. There appears to have been some overlap in the use of the terms, especially in the early years of the war.

The copy of the German report, filed the day after the crash, of the loss of the aircraft and crew, which is on display here at NASAM with the various recovered parts of U5+AN, mis-spells the gunner’s surname as Scwientsch but does record his rank as Uffz. The bombardier, Feldwebel Kriegel, was taken prisoner having successfully baled out of the aircraft. The final resting places of the three crew members who perished is not yet known.

There is something of a twist to the tale of Uffz. Emil Swientek however, when the RAF record of the confrontation is taken into account. The Operations Record Book – the ORB, for No 17 Squadron is held in the UK National Archive and is available to view online. It begins its entry for the 3rd of September 1940 in the following way:

“The Squadron took off at 10:12 hrs on patrol and sighted about 40 Dornier Do.215 and Dornier Do.17 with two large masses of fighters above them crossing the coast near the River Crouch.”

The river runs east/west inland from Foulness Point, the outermost part of Foulness Island. Southend on Sea sits to the south while Chelmsford lies a little to the northwest and Debden can be found about 30 miles due west.

The ORB entry comments on a number of individual attacks, but continues: “F/O Hanson was missing, and has since been reported killed. He was seen to shoot down a Do.17 into the River Crouch, after which his aircraft crashed on Foulness Island. An observer reports that he tried to bale out at 100ft”.

So it is possible that F/O Hanson, having severely damaged the Dornier carrying Uffz. Swientek such that it crashed, was himself shot down either at the same time or shortly afterwards in that same engagement. It is also possible that his Hurricane actually took return fire from the Dornier during his own attack, and that the machine guns that ultimately caused his aircraft to crash, and which caused his death, were fired at him by Uffz. Swientek from U5+AN.

The Dornier itself, having taken mortal damage in F/O Hanson’s attack, somewhere near North Weald airfield could then have turned to the northeast towards the coast to escape further attack and, losing height all the way – albeit slowly enough to enable two of the crew to bale out, made it as far as Langenhoe before impacting the ground. Neither account indicates what height the encounter took place at so we have to guess a little.

The ORB account for that 17Sqn operation closes with:

“The Squadron claimed a total of 2 Me.110 and a Do.215 destroyed and 2 Me.110 probable, our own casualties being F/O Hanson killed and Sgt Fopp injured. Other aircraft landed at Debden by 11:45hrs.”

The tally of aircraft destroyed recorded doesn’t fully match the more detailed account and doesn’t note the Do.17 – or at least confuses it with a Do.215, but without access to the related Squadron Combat Reports, it’s not possible to be completely precise on what took place during the encounter. The information was supplied to the Squadron Intelligence Officer by returning RAF pilots who were themselves attacking and being attacked from some way above the interactions of these two aircraft. We should simply recognise the bravery and sacrifice made on both sides at that time – and continue with the research.

NASAM is very grateful to the family members who visited, and for the photograph of Emil that they left with us. If they would care to reach out to us with any further information about him, his service or his family, then we would be pleased to add that to the display of the parts of his aircraft that have been recovered from Langenhoe and which are currently on display in the Museum.

Graham M

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