Intended FJ role in Sealion

[Leros87]

RAF Hawkinge Defence Scheme 1941. Mentions B and D Coys 6th Buffs and RAF personnel only.

[Leros87]

Page 2 of the above scheme.

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Part of the defence scheme of 6th Buffs at RAF Lympne in 1941

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Home Guard scheme for the the Folkestone, Hythe and Hawkinge sectors

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Attachment 2 of 4

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Attachment 3 of 4

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Attachment 4 of 4

[Leros87]

I was able to briefly pop back to Kew the other day. I re read the 55 LAA Regt diary. It went on to record that on 8 Oct 164 Bty moved from Essex to Dover, replacing 138 Bty. On 20 Oct 2x40mm left Hawkinge and transferred to 46 LAA Regt at Ford NAS. On 25 Oct most of 165 Bty relieved 163 Bty (BHQ, A &B Tps at Dover and Hawkinge. On 3 Nov it reported that 2x40mm guns left Lympne for Watton. I presume these would have been the last two guns, though with the four that left at the end of August the numbers don't add up, unless those guns had been moved there in the meantime?
As previously mentioned there continued to be a regular relocation of units and guns to meet needs.

[Knouterer]

Yes, I agree (see my post of 31 May on page 23). It's probably not really possible to pin down every last gun, tank and infantry platoon at the end of September 1940, given the sketchy record keeping on the one hand and all the moving around on the other.

I think all we can conclude is that if there were any Bofors guns at Lympne at that point, there were probably no more than two.

[Knouterer]

Further to the defences of Hawkinge in Sept. 1940, as noted on the previous page these included A battery of the Royal Marine AA Regt. At that time, this battery had seven 3-inch 20cwt AA guns (one short, apparently). A history of the 75th HAA Regt, "A Fury of Guns", contains a useful map of HAA sites in Eastern Kent. The Marines occupied sites D11 (2 guns), D12 (two sections, 3 guns) and D16 (2 guns). Battery HQ in Warren Lodge on the Old Dover Road in Capel-Le-Ferne, where presumably they had a good view of enemy planes approaching over the Channel.
Second map (from the 1920s) shows the three sites (red dots) , about 1500-2000 m away from the airfield.
Personnel of army HAA batteries were only partially armed at the time, about one rifle per four men, but I would assume the marines were fully armed, which is to some degree confirmed by a picture of a group of them all carrying rifles in Target Folkestone by Roy Humphreys. In addition, there would be one or two Lewis LMGs per site to protect against low-level attack.

[Knouterer]

New book coming up which might have some new info on the available air transport capacity - unfortunately we have to wait another six months for it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14728 ... 2T5XKC3S6W

[Knouterer]

According to the very sketchy information available, the aircraft transporting the FJ would start from airfields in the region St.-Quentin – Laon. That would mean that the distance to the dropping zones was about 200-250 km. Assuming they would follow a straight course, they would pass the French coast south of Calais and make landfall at or very close to Folkestone.
Flying time would be a bit over an hour; on returning after the first drop, it would take some time before all planes had landed and could be refuelled and reloaded. Forming up after take-off would also take time; all in all a minimum of four to five hours until the second drop seems reasonable.

According to the diary of a crew member of a Ju52 of II./KGrzbV 1, he flew three missions on the 10th of May 1940, from an airfield at Dortmund. First mission started at 5:30, paras dropped at Dordrecht, return home; 11:00 second start, landed at Waalhaven, unloaded infantry of 22. ID, return home; in the afternoon, flight to Gütersloh to pick up more troops, then to Waalhaven again. Total flight time for the day: nine hours, last landing home around 19:00. The distance from Dortmund to Rotterdam is a bit over 200 km. On that basis, it is possible that the Junkers would have flown three missions on S-Day, though two seems more realistic.

[sitalkes]

Maybe there would be longer daylight hours in September than in May? Twilight not until 10pm?

[Gooner1]

Maybe there would be longer daylight hours in September than in May? Twilight not until 10pm?

The other way around. Using London and 2016, on May 10th the day length between sunrise and sunset was 15 hours 22 minutes and and 52 seconds. For September the 24th was 12 hours 3 minutes and 4 seconds.

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/lond ... &year=2016

[Knouterer]

On that subject: I took a little trip to England last September to inspect the imaginary battlefield. For atmosphere, I stayed at the Hotel Imperial in Hythe. On the morning of the 26th, I was out early for my first scientific observations; I stood in front of the hotel where the emergency battery was in 1940 (now a small parking lot) and as expected the sun rose in the east and to my left, just off Folkestone. First picture taken at 06:38 (07:38 continental time), sunrise at Dover was officially at 06:48 on that day, high tide at 08:18.