Dornier Do17P

Luftwaffe Wn.4062 

1(F)/123

Crew:

Oblt H Kutter(killed)

Ofw G Stühler(killed)

Ogefr H Schneidmüller(killed)

​Date: 8 November 1939 – 10.15 hrs

Place: Lubey, France

This excavation was featured in the BBC series Dig 1940 – shown on BBC2 and History Channel presented by Jules Hudson.

​The Dornier was carrying out a high altitude reconnaissance when it was intercepted at 27,000 feet by F/O Edgar ‘Cobber’ Kain of 73 Squadron in a Hurricane. The bomber dived into the main street of the small village called Lubey.

Although not the first German aircraft to be shot down by the RAF in WW2 it is an historic event and TV producer John Hayes Fisher wanted to see it was possible to find something of the Dornier. With the team for the dig was Peter Ayerst, a 73 Squadron pilot who had flown with ‘Cobber’ Kain in the Battle of France.

Our French researcher and regular team member Jean-Michel Goyat was able to gain permission from the French authorities to undertake an excavation in the middle of Lubey’s main road.

Although some wreckage was discovered, it transpired that the majority had been dug up when drains were laid in the 1960s.