Ju88 in Idle, Bradford.

On the night of the 4th/5th of May 1941 the crew of this aircraft are believed to have been tasked with laying mines off Belfast (or Barrow in Furness, sources vary), over the north of England they were intercepted by a Beaufighter and an engine was damaged over the Bradford area. After loosing height, releasing the bombload and two of the crew baling out, they were attacked again which further damaged the aircraft. The two remaining crew left by parachute and the aircraft crashed into 13-15 High Street, Idle near Bradford damaging some houses at 00.40hrs. Two civilians were unfortunately killed and four others injured. The crew landed in the Guiseley, Otley and Farnley area and were taken PoW. I cannot find any proper internet reference which names the civilians killed and injured and have attempted to research them below.

This incident is well detailed in Bill Norman's "Broken Eagles" book and while he does not credit the allied aircraft, unit or pilot responsible the book "Mother Worked at Avro" by Gerald Myers states the Beaufighter was a 25 Squadron aircraft based at Wittering and was flown by Sgt K Hollowell/Sgt Crossman. Mr Norman makes no mention of the aircraft being hit by ground based anti-aircraft fire but an intelligence file sourced by Mr Nick Roberts states that the aircraft had "been hit by A.A. fire, the crew baled out and it dived into the ground striking two houses. Wreckage caught fire and is practically entirely buried under the ruins of the houses." An engine is believed to remain buried at the crash site.

Pilot - Oblt Ernst Jurgens, PoW.

Obs - Oblt z See Reinhold Metzger, (landed on roof of Ings Hotel, Guiseley). PoW. Broke ankle on landing.

WOp - Obfw Hans Beeck, PoW.

Gunner - Fw Heinrich Janichen, PoW.

Others injured - names unknown.