Heinkel He59 Red Cross Seaplanes shot down

Attacks on Red Cross Aircraft
Operated by the Luftwaffe

The British Government had decided that it could not recognise the right of He 59s to bear the Red Cross, since it was probable that these aircraft were being used to report movements of British convoys, and a fortnight before had instructed British pilots to shoot them down. A Heinkel 59 had been seen leading Me 109s (despite its Red Cross markings) at sea level, and had been forced down on July 11th by Al Deere of No. 54 Squadron (there is a good photograph of this aircraft in his book "Nine Lives" (Hodder & Stoughton)).

It would be apparent and obvious that German aircraft would be shot down over both the North Sea and the English Channel and the Luftwaffe were quite within their rights to provide a search and rescue service to assist downed aircrew that had been shot down over water and were in need of rescue and be taken back to Germany.
This rescue service was inaugurated during the early part of the war and the Luftwaffe used Heinkel He59 and Dornier Do18 float planes for this purpose. The operated from bases in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and all along the French coast. According to RAF intelligence, these aircraft, painted white with numerous red crosses painted on them, often carried armament and were observed shadowing or being used for the purpose of observation in guiding formations of bombers to shipping targets. On a number of occasions these search and rescue aircraft were observed circling above a number of British convoys for no apparent reason. The RAF was forced to issue the following communiqué:

Enemy aircraft bearing civil markings and marked with the Red Cross have recently flown over British ships at sea and in the vicinity of the British coast, and they are being employed for purposes which His Majesty's Government cannot regard as being consistent with the privileges generally accorded to the Red Cross.
His Majesty's Government desire to accord to ambulance aircraft reasonable facilities for the transportation of the sick and wounded, in accordance with the Red Cross Convention, and aircraft engaged in the direct evacuation of the sick and wounded will be respected, provided that they comply with the relevant provisions of the Convention.
His Majesty's Government are unable, however, to grant immunity to such aircraft flying over areas in which operations are in progress on land or at sea, or approaching British or Allied territory, or territory in British occupation, or British or Allied ships.
Ambulance aircraft which do not comply with the above requirements will do so at their own risk and peril.
Communiqué issued by the Royal Air Force July 14th 1940
When the RAF realized that the German search and rescue aircraft were posing a threat to allied shipping convoys and the armament carried was for the purpose of attack and not purely for defence, it issued orders that such aircraft would be shot down.

In all, a total of 18 German aircraft had been shot down, and the shooting down of He59 search and rescue planes caused Hitler to proclaim that the RAF in attacking unarmed aircraft with defenceless and injured personnel on board nothing but cold blooded murderers.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Heinkel
• He59
• seaplane
• red
• cross
• rescue
• ww2
• germany
• luftwaffe

[lumarshall]

unlike the british the germans were more dedicated to saving their pilots than we were. our pilots were issued with just life jackets whilst the germans had the above as well as life rafts and dye so they could be easily spotted. this is whether you like it or not a war crime these aircraft were unarmed and picked up downed british pilots. for those who believe the propoganda narration what were they spying on? they knew about our radar stations, our ships could be tracked by their radar

[ImbaNaga]

stupid shit there were no weapons or sth else so why absuing the red cross??god sake i hate any kind of propaganda.

[TheStarlitetraining]

U.S. And England were the absolute biggest liars of the war. Like we are to believe such crap!!! We fought for the wrong side ... Gen. Patton! Gott MIT Uns USA sorry Germans!

[ovemunk]

British worse than the Germans??? How many jews were being killed in the camps at this time? This was WAR you know and the seaplanes, while perhaps doing a mission of mercy was picking up Luftwaffe pilots which would go back to Germany, get a new aeroplane and start attacking Britain again. The Brits were not that naive, their rescue boats and planes were armed and did not carry red crosses and even if they did do you REALL_Y think the Nazis would have held back? 20/20 hindsight i'd say.

[MrBEB123]

@attaat Talking specifically about this video I am 100% confident that Germany was not in anyway using the Red Cross signage for military advantage and that these planes were simply used to pick up downed pilots. The fact is the Government of the U.S. has been lying nonstop to its citizens on just about every issue imaginable and that is not a conspiracy theory either. The news and entertainment industries are in on it as well with the ulterior motive and goal being Communism.

[attaat]

@MrBEB123 Coming from someone who lists his interests as 'promoting national socialism' (Nazi) I think we can take your comment with a pinch of salt!

[attaat]

If they were purely on a rescue mission then why did they have a fighter escort?

[rudiballaballa]

@bavarikus Moin,Moin(Moien Daach) bavarikus die wahren ursachen der beiden Weltkriege liegen nicht im

Dunkeln. Wenn du ein bischen sucht findest viele Hinweise.

Hier ein Zitat von einem Sieger nach 1945: "Wenn UNSERE Wahrheit in den Geschichtsbüchern der Deutschen steht , dann haben wir gewonnen"

[lumarshall]

@patriot91101rip .I did not realise we had b17s in the R.A,F. In 1940 are you sure this is correct. As it would have made more sense to use them on bombing missions against Germany during this period than the 2 engine bombers instead (our own 4 engined bombers didn't start making an appearnce til 1941-1942). Your last bit is very true it did take the Germans a while to click on to the fact we could use radar for air detection and amazingly once they realised it, they left it alone big mistake

[patriot91101rip]

@lumarshall My grandfather flew a B-17 in WW2 they were equipped with Mae West vests and life rafts were stored in a compartment above the bomb bay. and this is in 1940 before the germans really knew the british were using radar to track the airpanes thats why Fighter Command always had a sufficient sized force to face the bombers

[MrBEB123]

The more information that is learned about WW II the better the Axis look and the worse the Allies look and that is especially true about what has been learned after WW II in the 65 years since the war ended. Despite a buildup of wealth western society is on a downward spiral culturally, socially and now even economically. This would explain the increase in Nationalism on a Worldwide basis. I would be very surprised if "Democracy" can solve the problems facing formally White nations.

[pinwizz69]

Hello, were the hell did you get the impression that allied aircraft had no die packs and rafts. Got news fore you Daddy Bush and a whole lot of WW II pilots I grew up listening to their stories would set ya straight. In any bird men,t to over water flights behind the seat in the cockpit or in a pop out panel outside usualy behind and port of the seat. There,s a reason its on the port side Fighters and most other birds you enter the cockpit on the right. Look at cutaway drawings.