Dornier Do217 near Coneysthorpe, Malton.
This Dornier Do217 was taking part in the Baedeker raid on York on the night of 28th / 29th April 1942 when it was attacked by an Allied fighter aircraft, the Dornier was badly
damaged and it's pilot was left with little option to but try and crash land the burning aircraft before he lost control, all except the pilot had been injured by the
attacking Allied aircraft. A rough landing was made near Coneysthorpe but the aircraft remained on fire and while all four got clear of the burning aircraft, despite their
injuries, one badly burned airman would sadly die some hours later of his injuries. The exact chain of events leading up to the aircraft being shot down are not
fully known nor ever probably will be as confusion exists as to who actually shot it down. It was initially believed to have been shot down by F/O Furse (and P/O Downes)
in Beaufighter R2389 from Catterick but the times recorded do not match. Furse and Downes may not actually be the correct claimants for this enemy aircraft, Furse had not
left Scorton at the time the German aircraft crashed and only attacked once, the German pilot stated later that he was attacked twice. Two ORB reports give some information;
60 MU stated that on this date "Air raid on York. Enemy aircraft shot down at Crockey Hill and Coneysthorpe." Catterick ORB states "P/O Lawrence and Sgt. Wilmer in Beaufighter,
shot down Ju88 70 miles east of Whitby. F/O Furse damaged a Do217 off Bridlington. Sgt. Libby (Norway) attacked Ju88 off Whitby." But none of these reports appear to relate
to either this loss at Coneysthorpe or the Ju88 that crashed at Crockey Hill.
253 Squadron pilot P/O Yves Mahe claimed to have shot down a Heinkel HeIII but he appears to have been mistaken as this was for the Junkers Ju88 at Crockey Hill (for which
he is credited), but he made a second claim as damaging another aircraft and it could be that he was infact also the attacker of this Dornier that landed at Coneysthorpe. He claimed
the last time he saw the second aircraft it was twenty mile east of York, this direction is wrong but the distance is about right.
Pilot - Lt Karl-Heinz Mulhen. Survived to become POW.
Observer - Uffz Otto Hacker. Shot in the buttock, survived to become POW.
Wireless Operator - Uffz Fritz Kalber, aged 22. Died of injuries. Buried Cannock Chase Cemetery, Staffordshire.
Gunner - Fw Oskar Fussnecker. Severely injured forearm, survived to become POW.
Fritz Kalber's grave at Cannock Chase with another Luffewaffe airman killed in a different incident. I understand that there were once two German graves to be found in Malton Cemetery, with one or both apparently being graves of airmen. I assume that if this was the case one could have been the grave of Fritz Kalber but the occupant of the other grave is not known. Fritz Kalber's remains were later moved to Cannock Chase, Staffordshire in the 1950s where they still lie.
The red blob shows the rough area where the aircraft crash landed. The land at the time was rough ground, it was ploughed up after the war and is now cultivated farmland.
Karl-Heinz Mulhen was featured in a television program on BBC2 in 2003, he described the raid on York he took part in, his shooting down and his crash landing and capture.
This interview is now on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfPN2NYN6so).
