Date:	Friday 5 February 1943
Time:	09:40
Type:	Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4
Owner/operator:	10.(J)/JG 26 Luftwaffe
Registration:	2435
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	English Channel, halway between Hastings and Fecamp -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Combat
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
In the morning of 5 February 1943 a Schwarm of Fw 190s of 10.(J)/JG 26 was sent againt Hailsham but met off the English coast a pair of Typhoons of 609 Sqn RAf (that were misidentified as Tomahawks by the German). Half a minute after being seen, the Fw 190s turned south and jettisoned their bombs to escape but one of the British pilots, Flg Off Peter Nankivell manage to close with one of the German fighters that was left 500 yards behind during the turn and opened fire at 400 yards, scoring a first hit at 300. After some evasive actions between 0 and 200 feet and more bursts from the Typhoon, the German pilot, Uffz Herbert Büttner, began a slow climbing turn to port, shedding pieces and dropping undercarriage. At 1,200 feet, he rolled his Fw 190 A-4 WNr 2435 "black 1" onto its back and bailed out, halway between Hastings and Fecamp. It was then 0940 hrs according to Nankivel’s victory claim.

II./JG 26 was then ordered to search for him and cover the German ASR launches. The German activity in turn prompted 11 Group RAF to send up several formations of Spitfire. The German pilots reported seeing 10 Spitfires and six small British vessels in the search area, and Büttner was not found and did not survive.

During this search, two Schwärme of 5./JG 26 met Spitfires of 611 Sqn and Uffz Heinz Gomman was chased by two of them very low over the Channel. He pulled up into the broken cloud deck, and when he dropped out the two British fighters were right in front of him. He opened fire on the leader that immediately crashed into the sea. He attacked also the other but without apparent effect. He had shot down the Spitfire F.IX BS435 FY-F flown by Sqn Ldr Hugo Throssell Armstrong DFC, the Australian commanding officer of 611 Sqn and an ace with a score of 10.5 victories, 3 probable and 2 damaged. Gomann claimed his Spitfire shot down at 1211 hrs 8 km NNW of Boulogne as his 2nd victory.

"Luftwaffe Fighter-Bombers Over Britain: The Tip and Run Campaign, 1942-43", by Chris Goss, Peter Cornwell and Bernd Rauchbach. ISBN 978-0-8117-0691-9
"The JG 26 War Diary, volume 2: 1943-1945", by Donald L Caldwell. ISBN 1-898697-86-8
"Aces high: a tribute to the most notable fighter pilots of the British and Commonwealth forces in WWII", by Christopher Shores and Clive Williams, ISBN 1-898697-00-0
RAF Fighter Command activity in 1943 file, by Tony Wood (http://lesbutler.co.uk/claims/tonywood.htm)
http://mick_quinn.tripod.com/id52.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
06-Nov-2017 09:32	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
12-Dec-2019 16:47	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]