He111 recovered in Wiltshire

PublishedFebruary 19, 2026

Heinkel He111H-6
Werknummern (serial): 4627
Kampfgruppe 100
Crew: Hauptmann Siegfried Langer (killed)
Date: 23rd May 1942
Place: Near Alvediston, Cranborne Chase, Wiltshire

“The Heinkel banked steeply over to the left and came running back at us, the gunners firing broadsides as they flashed past only a hundred yards away on the beam.” – C.F. Rawnsley, Night Fighter

**Hptm Siegfried Langer, Deutcheskreuz**

On 23 May 1942, a duel unfolded in the murky skies above England between John ‘Cat’s Eyes’ Cunningham in a Bristol Beaufighter, and Hauptmann Siegfried Langer in a He111 — a pilot too experienced to underestimate. An RAF AI.g Intelligence report stated that ‘it was known that Hauptman Langer was grounded as he was a too valuable person to lose, but, he nevertheless flew on rare occasions’.

**The encounter was recorded by Cunningham’s radar operator, C. F. Rawnsley, in his excellent book *Night Fighter*, in the chapter “Three-Cornered Contest”**

What followed was not a straightforward interception. Guided onto the Heinkel by their G.C.I. controller, Cunningham closed in only for the He 111 to manoeuvre aggressively in cloud, turning tightly and at one point banking steeply back towards the Beaufighter, its gunners firing as it passed across their beam at close range. Cunningham held the turn, determined not to let the aircraft slip away into cover. The two machines spiralled downward together through broken cloud, the Beaufighter pulling heavy G’s as Rawnsley monitored radar and instruments.

**Sgt. Rawnsley DFM, DFC, left, and G/Cpt. Cunningham CBE, DSO, DFC, pictured later in the war in front of a Mosquito**

The engagement carried them dangerously low over the rising ground of Cranborne Chase. In darkness and poor visibility there was little margin for error. During one steep descent the Beaufighter’s speed increased rapidly, the altimeter unwinding as they risked flying straight into high ground. The Heinkel briefly emerged from cloud before diving again. Shortly afterwards it struck the hillside near Alvediston in Wiltshire.

The crash site of Langer’s He 111 was located in 1980, and fragments were later recovered from the Wiltshire soil. Much of the wreckage had been cleared in 1942, but enough remained to confirm the site — quiet, scattered evidence of the violent encounter that had taken place above the Chase decades earlier.

The Heinkel was reduced to tiny fragments, spread over a wide area

**A piece of gondola armour plate from He111H-6 Werk Nummer 4627. Recovered in 1980**

Alongside the short extract below, further information about the crash can be found in Luftwaffe Crash Archive Volume 9, available to purchase now from Wingleader’s website.