smithart101
Airman
I was doing some research into the late great Bob Doe and was reading with interest the incident in which he refused to finish off Rolf Pingel having damaged his 109.
That part of the story is well known:"In August 1940 he [Bob Doe] damaged an Me109 and chased it across the Channel. When the German pilot ejected his cockpit canopy Bob knew he was finished and would soon crash into the sea many miles from the French coast. "I flew alongside him. It was the first time I had seen a German in the air. He had taken off his oxygen mask. I wished him 'bonne chance' and turned for home. I could not have shot him down in cold blood.""
However what is confusing is that Pingel as Gruppenkommandeur of I. Gruppe JG26,is known to have been shot down off Hastings by a Hurricane Ace, John Beard on the 28th September and then rescued by the german air sea rescue.
This obviously does not tie in with Doe's description of the incident as having taken place in August.Having checked Bob Doe's combat report for the 16th August, he descibes an engagement well to the south of the Isle of Wight in which he shot down a 109.
To quote: 'I gave 4 bursts of 2 secs each.Smoke came from engine. It turned on its back and dived straight down to sea level.I followed. It landed on the water and went straight in.'
Clearly he couldn't write about his act of mercy in his form F. The choice of words speaks volumes: he 'dived straight down to sea level.I followed...' implying the 109 flew at sea level for some distance before going in and that Doe stayed with it until it crashed. This matches the later account of his encounter with Pingel.
Checking luftwaffe records I find no losses for JG26 on this day. However, Pingel wasn't with JG26 at this date. He was then Staffelkapitän to II./JG 53 (until joining JG26 on the 22nd August),II JG53 were heavily engaged on this date South of the Isle of Wight and two of their fighters were shot down into the channel with both pilots being rescued. One was Fw. Dinger, the other pilot was unnamed. My suggestion is that this was in fact Pingel.
Simon
That part of the story is well known:"In August 1940 he [Bob Doe] damaged an Me109 and chased it across the Channel. When the German pilot ejected his cockpit canopy Bob knew he was finished and would soon crash into the sea many miles from the French coast. "I flew alongside him. It was the first time I had seen a German in the air. He had taken off his oxygen mask. I wished him 'bonne chance' and turned for home. I could not have shot him down in cold blood.""
However what is confusing is that Pingel as Gruppenkommandeur of I. Gruppe JG26,is known to have been shot down off Hastings by a Hurricane Ace, John Beard on the 28th September and then rescued by the german air sea rescue.
This obviously does not tie in with Doe's description of the incident as having taken place in August.Having checked Bob Doe's combat report for the 16th August, he descibes an engagement well to the south of the Isle of Wight in which he shot down a 109.
To quote: 'I gave 4 bursts of 2 secs each.Smoke came from engine. It turned on its back and dived straight down to sea level.I followed. It landed on the water and went straight in.'
Clearly he couldn't write about his act of mercy in his form F. The choice of words speaks volumes: he 'dived straight down to sea level.I followed...' implying the 109 flew at sea level for some distance before going in and that Doe stayed with it until it crashed. This matches the later account of his encounter with Pingel.
Checking luftwaffe records I find no losses for JG26 on this day. However, Pingel wasn't with JG26 at this date. He was then Staffelkapitän to II./JG 53 (until joining JG26 on the 22nd August),II JG53 were heavily engaged on this date South of the Isle of Wight and two of their fighters were shot down into the channel with both pilots being rescued. One was Fw. Dinger, the other pilot was unnamed. My suggestion is that this was in fact Pingel.
Simon
