Herbert Schmid
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Oberleutnant (English: First Lieutenant) is a senior lieutenant Officer (armed forces), officer rank in the German (language), German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. In Austria, ''Oberle ...
Herbert Schmid (1 April 1914 – 1975) was a German World War II pilot who
defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...
to north-east Scotland in May 1943, piloting a German nightfighter with advanced interception radar which allowed British scientists to jam German nightfighter radar.


Early life

He was born in
Sachsen-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area an ...
. His father was the secretary to the German Chancellor and Foreign Minister,
Gustav Stresemann Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman during the Weimar Republic who served as Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933), chancellor of Germany from August to November 1 ...
"Ju 88 R-1, Werk Nr. ''360043''."
''RAF Museum''. Retrieved: 30 January 2014.
In 1974 the West German newspaper ''
Bild am Sonntag ''Bild am Sonntag'' (''BamS'') is the largest-selling German national Sunday newspaper published in Berlin, Germany. History and profile ''Bild am Sonntag'' was first published on 29 April 1956.Helmut Böger, ''Bild'', 8 May 2011Die Story von Ba ...
'' ran a story about Herbert Schmid, written by Günther Stiller, claiming that he was a British agent, who had flown a
Dornier Do 217 The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. It was a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937-38 as a heavy bomber ...
into a
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
RAF airfield on the night of 20 May 1941.


Career

He was a pilot in the
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
, serving with
Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 3 (NJG 3) was a Luftwaffe night fighter-wing of World War II. NJG 3 was formed on 29 September 1941 in Stade from Stab./Zerstörergeschwader 26. Pilots of NJG 3 claimed approximately 820 aerial victories by day and ni ...
(NJG 3).


May 1943 defection to Scotland

On Sunday 9 May 1943, at age 29, Schmid flew his
Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...
R-1 (''360043''), equipped with the most advanced German nightfighter interception radar, to an RAF station at
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
. He had set off from
Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...
in Denmark at 1503, flying to Norway to refuel at 1603. It took off at 1650 to take part in a mission over the
Skagerrak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...
, between Norway and Denmark. At 1710, a false message was sent to the German nightfighter headquarters in Denmark, saying that the aircraft's starboard engine was on fire; the aircraft dropped down to sea level and dropped three life rafts.


Interception

Two
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...
s from 165 Squadron, with an American (in ''BM 515T'') and Canadian pilot (in ''AB 921''), were sent to intercept the Ju 88, making contact with the Ju 88 at 1805, west of Aberdeen; the Ju 88 dropped its flaps and undercarriage and launched red flares. The Ju 88 landed at Aberdeen at 1820. One German aircrew, Oberfeldwebel Erich Kantwill, was not compliant following the landing and had to be taken at gunpoint. A WAAF photographer noticed how 'full of smug confidence' that the two German pilots seemed, with one of the pilots 'leisurely combing his hair', not like a typical prisoner-of-war would do so. The Station Commander was
Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...
J W Colquhoun. Schmid was detained as a prisoner of war, after being detained in the Officer's Mess for one day with the other crew of his aircraft. On 10 May, the three Luftwaffe aircrew, in civilian clothes, were given an
RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries-out security tasks relating to the protection of assets and personnel dedicated ...
escort to
Aberdeen railway station Aberdeen railway station is the main railway station in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the busiest railway station in Scotland north of the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is located on Guild Street in the city centre, next to Union Squa ...
. On the train they were accompanied by staff of
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
. Prof RV Jones caught the night train from London, arriving on the morning of Tuesday 11 May. He inspected the aircraft with fellow physicist
Derek Jackson Derek Ainslie Jackson, OBE, DFC, AFC, FRS (23 June 1906 – 20 February 1982) was a British physicist. Biography Derek Jackson was born in 1906, the son of Welsh businessman Sir Charles Jackson. He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity ...
.


Aircraft testing

Once the aircraft was captured, German nightfighters could be detected much earlier. The aircraft was flown many times, behind a
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...
that dropped the tin foil ''
window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...
''. The radar-jamming technique known as ''window'' was found to work. The previous year,
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
''DV819'' of No. 1474 Flight (part of 192 Squadron) had attempted the world's first
Ferret mission A Ferret mission is a covert aerial reconnaissance mission that detects the frequencies and strength of radar, in other countries. The name originates from the methodology of how ferrets attempt to seek out habitats of other animals. History The fi ...
, from
RAF Gransden Lodge The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (R ...
in
Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...
on 3 December 1942, to find German AI radar; the aircraft came under attack by a Luftwaffe Ju 88 nightfighter, and shot down on the Kent coast; the captured Ju 88 would find the radar system that this Wellington had been trying to find in December 1942.


History of Aberdeen

On Tuesday 17 January 1950, Prof RV Jones revisited Aberdeen, to give a talk about the incident, at the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
, to the Tarves Literary Society. He said that the 1943 incident was his first visit to the city. He also mentioned that the Soviets had taken an interest in radar from 1935, but had not progressed. Some Soviet laboratories looked at the possibilities, and one laboratory had got further than the others. In 1938 the OGPU (
Joint State Political Directorate The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
, the fore-runner of the NKVD) arrived at the radar laboratory, interviewed staff, became suspicious, leading to deportation of some of the scientists, as the OGPU believed that the scientists were 'English spies'. Prof RV Jones said, at the meeting in Aberdeen, that this action by the Soviets had 'wrecked their own radar research'. Another important British physicist was Sir Robert Cockburn. Prof RV Jones was the person who had been the first to convince the British government that German scientists had developed radar, mostly thanks to the Oslo Report, passed to the British Embassy in Oslo in Norway by its author, the physicist
Hans Ferdinand Mayer Hans Ferdinand Mayer (born 23 October 1895 in Pforzheim, Germany; died 18 October 1980 in Munich, West Germany) was a German mathematician and physicist. He was the author of the " Oslo Report", a major military intelligence leak which reveale ...
, on 4 November 1939. The Germans would know nothing of this report, until the end of the war. On 23 February 1941 Air Marshal
Philip Joubert de la Ferté Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Bennet Joubert de la Ferté, (21 May 1887 – 21 January 1965) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the 1930s and the Second World War. Early life Joubert de la Ferté was born in Darjeeling, Ind ...
arranged a meeting to discuss whether the Germans had any radar, and Prof RV Jones showed him a picture of the
Freya radar Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II; it was named after the Norse goddess Freyja. During the war, over a thousand stations were built. A naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also ...
, taken the day before, at Auderville in France; the Germans had also — foolishly — named the radar system after the Norse goddess
Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
; given that the Norse goddess in question was known for her magical power to see over a hundred miles, British scientists did not need a surfeit of guesses to deduce the likely function of the German system. In July 1942 a German-speaking British
Y service The "Y" service was a network of British signals intelligence collection sites, the Y-stations. The service was established during the First World War and used again during the Second World War. The sites were operated by a range of agencies inc ...
radio operator, broadcasting from a radio transmitter at
Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 motorway, M20 and M26 motorway, M26 motorways. History T ...
in Kent, and intercepting Luftwaffe nightfighter radio transmissions, heard mention of the unknown ''Emil-Emil'' system. British scientists deduced that this new system was an
aircraft interception radar Aircraft interception radar, or AI radar for short, is a historical British term for radar systems used to equip aircraft with the means to find and track other flying aircraft. These radars are used primarily by Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet A ...
, operating at 490 MHz. (''Emil-Emil'' turned out to be a code name for the
Lichtenstein radar The Lichtenstein radar was among the earliest airborne radars available to the Luftwaffe in World War II and the first one used exclusively for air interception. Developed by Telefunken, it was available in at least four major revisions, cal ...
system). On 26 April 1943, the
Ground Grocer Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the solid terrestrial surface of the Earth * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical circ ...
radio transmitter at RAF
Dunwich Dunwich () is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon ...
, on the
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
coast, began jamming the ''Emil-Emil'' wavelengths.


Military outcome

The
Serrate radar detector Serrate was a World War II Allied radar detection and homing device that was used by night fighters to track Luftwaffe night fighters equipped with the earlier UHF-band ''BC'' and ''C-1'' versions of the Lichtenstein radar. It allowed Royal Air Fo ...
, for British nightfighters, resulted from the understanding of the Ju-88's 50-cm radar. Serrate was first deployed on 14 June 1943. Five nightfighters had Serrate detectors, resulting in the loss of one Luftwaffe aircraft. Later the technology was deployed on Mosquito nightfighters of 141 Sqn, 239 Sqn at
RAF West Raynham Royal Air Force West Raynham, or more simply RAF West Raynham, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located west of West Raynham, Norfolk and southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened ...
, and 169 Sqn at
RAF Great Massingham Royal Air Force Great Massingham or more simply RAF Great Massingham is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk and east of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The airfield was built as a satellite airfield of RAF ...
in the west of
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
. Erich Kantwill returned to his wife Anneliese in Dortmund, and his daughter. Schmid returned to Bonn.


Aircraft

Within five days the Ju 88 had been given the designation ''PJ876'', later being tested at
RAF Collyweston Royal Air Force Collyweston or more simply RAF Collyweston is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located south-west of Stamford, Lincolnshire and north east of Corby, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was a satellite station o ...
in
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
. In the 1960s the aircraft was at
RAF Biggin Hill London Biggin Hill Airport is a minor commercial airport serving Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. It specialises in general aviation, handling a spectrum of traffic from private aviati ...
, then in storage at
RAF Henlow Royal Air Force Henlow or more simply RAF Henlow is a Royal Air Force station in Bedfordshire, England, equidistant from Bedford, Luton and Stevenage. It houses the RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine and the Joint Arms Control Implementation ...
, then moved to Wales in August 1973, to be restored by a team led by Flt Lt Ken Hurst. In early 1975 the aircraft was restored to original condition at RAF St Athan in
south Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
. The aircraft was moved to the RAF Museum in London in November 1978, when the museum opened.


See also

* 23 June 1942, a Fw 190 A3 accidentally landed, with Oberleutnant
Armin Faber ''Oberleutnant'' Armin Faber was a German ''Luftwaffe'' pilot in World War II who mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and landed his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Fw 190) intact at RAF Pembrey in South Wales. His plane was the first Fw 190 t ...
at RAF Pembrey, now Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range; it was the first time that the RAF had such an aircraft; the pilot mistook the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
for the English Channel; he came from
Jagdgeschwader 2 Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG 2) "Richthofen" was a German fighter Wing (military aviation unit), wing during World War II. JG 2 operated the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 single-seat, single-engine interceptor aircraft. Named afte ...
at
Morlaix Morlaix (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. History The Battle of Morlaix, part of the Hundred Years' War, was fought near the town on 30 Septembe ...
; he was confronted by Sgt Matthews, with a flare; he was taken to
RAF Fairwood Common Royal Air Force Fairwood Common, or more simply RAF Fairwood Common, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, sector station located on Fairwood Common, on the Gower Peninsula, to the west of Swansea. It is now the ...
by Group Captain
David Atcherley Air Vice Marshal David Francis William Atcherley, (12 January 1904 – 8 June 1952) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. Early life David Atcherley and his twin Richard were born on 12 January 1904, and were the sons of Major General Sir Lle ...
; the aircraft is in
Shoreham Aircraft Museum The Shoreham Aircraft Museum is located in the village of Shoreham, Kent, Shoreham near Sevenoaks in Kent, England, on the south-east edge of Greater London. It was founded by volunteers in 1978 and is dedicated to the airmen who fought in the s ...
* 16 April 1943, in the early hours; twelve
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...
A4 Luftwaffe aircraft had followed RAF bombers home from Germany to Essex; four of the Fw 190 aircraft had crossed the Thames estuary and believing it was the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
, the aircraft mistakenly landed at
RAF West Malling Royal Air Force West Malling or more simply RAF West Malling is a former Royal Air Force station located south of West Malling, Kent and west of Maidstone, Kent, England. Originally used as a landing area during the First World War,
; one crashed with the pilot killed, but the other three pilots were captured, with
Feldwebel '' '' (Fw or F, ) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. The rank has also been used in Russia, Austria-Hungary, occupied Serbia ...
Otto Bechtold from
Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 ''Schnellkampfgeschwader'' 10 (SKG 10) was a Luftwaffe fast bomber wing of the Second World War. The unit was initially created with three ''Gruppen'' (groups) in December 1942 at Saint-André-de-l'Eure Airport and augmented by a fourth group on ...
* 13 July 1944, a landing at
RAF Woodbridge Royal Air Force Woodbridge, or more simply RAF Woodbridge, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Woodbridge and around 7 miles north-east of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, England. Constructed in 1943 as a RAF military airfi ...
in
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
of a
Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 2 (NJG 2) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter and night intruder wing during World War II. Background Night fighter operations did form part of Wehrmacht war games during 1935 and 1936. Luftwaffe Service Regulation No. ...
(NJG 2) Ju 88G, also carrying advanced radar, piloted by
Unteroffizier () is a junior non-commissioned officer rank used by the . It is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers in Austria and Germany. It was formerly a rank in the Imperial Russian Army. Austria , also , is the collective name to ...
Hans Mackle,
Obergefreiter Obergefreiter (''abbr.'' OGefr.) is an enlisted rank of the German and Swiss militaries which dates from the 19th century. In today's ''Bundeswehr'', every ''Gefreiter'' is normally promoted ''Obergefreiter'' after six months. The NATO-Code is ...
Heinz Olze and Obergefreiter Hans Mockle * 21 July 1944, at around 0300, two
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
(G) aircraft landed at
RAF Manston Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpor ...
in Kent, piloted by
Leutnant () is the lowest junior officer rank in the armed forces of Germany ( Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High German «locum ...
Horst Prenzel and
Feldwebel '' '' (Fw or F, ) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. The rank has also been used in Russia, Austria-Hungary, occupied Serbia ...
Manfred Gromill of
Jagdgeschwader 301 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 301 (JG 301) was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. The order to form JG 301 was issued on 26 September 1943 and formed on 1 October 1943 in Neubiberg with '' Stab'' and three ''Gruppen'' (groups) as a " Wilde Sau" (wi ...
(JG 301)Manston History
/ref> * Helmuth Pohle, led the first German aerial attack on the UK, in Scotland, on 16 October 1939 in a Ju 88, later taken prisoner-of-war


References


External links


1943 defection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmid, Herbert 1914 births Aviation accidents and incidents in 1943 Aviation history of Scotland German defectors German emigrants to the United Kingdom German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom German World War II fighter pilots History of Aberdeen Military history of Denmark during World War II Military history of Scotland People from Saxony-Anhalt Technical intelligence during World War II World War II strategic bombing of Germany Year of death missing