Fate of Gruppenkommandeur´s plane
Text: Peter Kaššák
On the fateful 30 April 1940, I./ZG 76 lost its first Gruppenkommandeur. It was Hptm. Günther Reinecke, who was in the function since first May 1939 and led the Gruppe in the first combats of the WWII. During the combat flight, he was accompanied by Oblt. Hans Jäger. About the flight which was absolved between 19:53 and 21:12, Jäger wrote in his logbook the following remark: “Crashed Reinecke at 20:40, visibly hit by pursuing bomber in ground flight.“ It was this exact encounter with an RAF Blenheim, that became fatal for Hptm. Reinecke. Shortly afterward, the command of I. Gruppe was taken over for ten days by the Staffelkapitän of 1. Staffel, Oblt. Werner Hansen. Hansen was replaced then by Hptm. Werner Restemeyer on 11 May 1940.
Photograph 01 shows Werner Restemeyer in rank of Oberleutnant, and thus was created prior to 1. August 1936, when he was already promoted to Hauptmann, and naturally prior to service with I./ZG 76. Werner Heinrich August Restemeyer was a son of Werner Restemeyer and his wife Carolina, a family living at Höxter. Young Werner finished the secondary grammar school in March 1925 and in summer of that year joined "Sicherheitsdienst" (Security Service). On 15 October 1928 joined practical training for the Lufthansa at Staaken. In January 1931 absolved the Beobachterschule at Warnemϋnde and September of the same year was already in rank of Fähnrich. Since August 1936 he was in rank of Hauptmann in various Staffelkapitän functions at 2./Kü.Fl. JGr. 136, 2./JG 134, 2./JG 142, 2./ZG 142, 2./ZG 26. The outbreak of war found him in Jagdflieger Schule Schleissheim, but he was soon transferred to II.(J)/Tr.Gr. 186. In December re-entered 2./ZG 26 and briefly was acting as Gruppenkommandeur of I./ZG 26. On 14 December 1939, he was wounded in combat when he collided with one Blenheim over Borkum. After convalescence at the end of January 1940, he joined I./ZG 76.
As a Gruppenkommandeur of I./ZG 76, Hptm. Restemeyer received aircraft with appropriate marking. His Messerschmitt Bf 110 W.Nr. 3156 of version D had installed modification R1 which was the underbelly fuel tank so called “Dackelbauch”. Plane wore code “M8+AB” in accordance to the Luftwaffe standards for the Stab planes and as such also had a double chevron (“Doppelwinkel”) painted prior to the fuselage code. Photographs 02, 03 and 04 show this aircraft prior to 29 May 1940. An individual aircraft letter “A“ in green outlined by white color can be recognized on the fuselage. (photograph 02 credit: Marek Žatkovič)
On 29 May 1940, I./ZG 76 engaged RAF fighters again. For them, it was the first time with modern Hurricanes. Twenty-six bombers from II./KG 30, I./KG 26 and KGr. 100 were heading towards the English vessels off Narvik in the early evening. The escort consisted of four Bf 110s from I./ZG 76, which started at 18:00. Nine Hurricanes of 46. Squadron crossed their way. Their priority was the ships’ defense. The British fighters managed to shot down three German bombers. Their next victim was one of the escorting Bf 110s. F/S Shackley downed a Bf 110 from Stab I./ZG 76. This German fighter crashed in flames west of Skaarland. Its crew escaped using parachutes. Pilot Oblt. Hans Jäger lost an eye in the incident. He and his Bordfunker Uffz. Helmut Feick were captured. They were sent to a prisoner of war camp in Canada sometime later.
During the encounter, Hurricane pilots managed to hit another of the escorting Bf 110s. It, too, belonged to Stab of I./ZG 76 and was piloted by a new Gruppenkommandeur Hptm. Werner Restemeyer. He made an emergency landing at Trondheim with his damaged aircraft Bf 110 D-0/R1 W.Nr 3156 “M8+AB”. A wounded Bordfunker Uffz. Werner Eichert was pulled out of the plane´s cabin by ground crew. The first encounter with the Hurricanes was not the best for I./ZG 76.
Photographs 05a and 05b are showing Hptm. Werner Restemeyer´s Bf 110 “M8+AB” at the repair stand at Vaerlose airbase in June 1940. To confirm that this photo was taken in June 1940, we can point towards another plane in the background. It is Bf 110 D-0 W.Nr. 3135“M8+FH” of 1./ZG 76, which was belly landed on 2 June 1940 at Ekne (Photograph 06) and is waiting for repair as well. Photo of this airplane after its repair is one of the most known first installment ZG 76 photos provided by Bundesarchive (Photograph 07). It shows the Bf 110 on its wheels again, while the damaged Dackelbauch fuel tank was removed and aircraft waits to be retrofitted by another one. (photograph 06 credit: Marek Žatkovič)
But to be back at “M8+AB”, another available photograph of this plane, photograph 08, captures “Schwarze männer” of the ground crew during the process of lifting up the damaged “M8+AB” W.Nr.3156 to be ready for the repair and installation of a new Dackelbauch fuel tank at Vaerlose.
Meanwhile, very fierce confrontations of I./ZG 76 with the RAF fighters continued and culminated on 15 August 1940. The Adlertag was undoubtedly a black day for ZG 76. The Luftwaffe planners had anticipated that RAF units would be completely exhausted by massive attacks in the south and southeast of England. A major attack was planned on the same day, being directed at the northeast coast of England. The attack was to be undertaken by Luftflotte 5 forces, dislocated in Norway and Denmark. The command of the Luftwaffe anticipated an attack into an undefended area of England. Sixty-three He 111s from KG 26 were to attack Dishforth and Linton-on- Ouse Airfields. Twenty-one long-range Bf 110D-1/R-1s from I./ZG 76 took off from Stavanger Airfield at about 11:35 with the task of escorting dispatched Heinkels. RAF radar operators detected the approaching danger at the right time. German command miscalculated. There were several fighter squadrons in the area, replenishing forces after the previous July fights. A final number of fifty-six Hurricanes and Spitfires from 41., 72., 79., 605. and 607. Squadrons were airborne against the German raid. The sky was filled with airplanes.
In such a peele-meele, eleven victories of the members of 2. and 3. Staffel were claimed. Lt. Helmut Woltersdorf made a double claim, when scoring his seventh and eighth victory, both Spitfires shot down East of Blyth. Double claim was reported also by Oblt. Reinhold Eckart over Flamborough. Although the I. Gruppe crews scored, the losses were much higher. Survivor of the action, Bordfunker Uffz. Otto Dombrowsky of 2./ZG 76 summarized the events of that day as follows:
“It was a black day for I./ZG 76. We suffered heavy losses. Our orders: mission against England as protection for He 111s. The Gruppenstabschwarm with Hptm. Werner Restemeyer flew at the rear of the formation in order to intervene wherever the trouble was the greatest but they didn‘t get the chance. Long before the coast, we were surprised by Spitfires and Hurricanes which attacked us in vastly superior numbers.
The Gruppenstabschwarm was the first to be engaged. We could see how they were broken up and Hptm. Restemeyer was shot down. We had to stay with the bombers and were in turn engaged in battle. Our protective circle was torn open and we were attacked from above and the left by a Hurricane. I shouted at my pilot Oblt. Gustav Uellenbeck to pull up to the left and was able to open fire at the Hurricane successfully as he dropped away to the left in a steep dive with a trail of smoke. When we got back to Aalborg we counted 24 bullet holes. The direction-finding equipment, aerials - everything had been shot away.”
The drama in the sky continued and Gruppenkommandeur ´s Bf 110 was shot down in the battle with 72. Squadron Spitfires and crashed into the sea near Durham. Gruppenkommandeur Hptm. Werner Restemeyer, and his Bordfunker Uffz. Werner Eichert, were both killed almost instantly, as some sources state, that his belly tank on Bf 110 “M8+AB” exploded when hit by enemy planes. The third crew member of their Bf 110, Hptm. Ernst-August Hartwich (photograph 09), a member of Funkhorchkomp. X Flieger Korps, flying as a special observer, also died. At first, he was registered as a prisoner, but later his status changed to dead.
Shown Photograph 10 is one of the last known photos of Hptm. Werner Restemeyer. He died 13 days short of his 34th birthday on 15 August 1940. On 1 June 1941, he was posthumously promoted to Major, but only on 1 August 1944 was he officially listed as Missing in Action.
But the story of “M8+AB” W.Nr. 3156 seems to be a bit different as one would suppose. Unauthorized photograph 11 from eBay auction shows the Bf 110 D with W.Nr.3156 and partial code “M8+.” However, under the wings of this aircraft we can recognize the letter D. We suggest that it was photographed as “M8+DB”. This would lead to a conclusion, that Hptm. Restemeyer was not lost in this plane W.Nr.3156 on 15 August 1940. It is highly probable that after his May accident Gruppenkommandeur received a new aircraft with code “M8+AB”, which may be the one shown on photograph 12, and his old W.Nr. 3156 was renamed to “M8+DB” and used within Stab I./ZG 76 for some time and possibly survived his original pilot.