Daring operation over Amiens, 11 november 1940 ( maybe 41 )

Greetings,

I've been conducting some researches over the last months, about a story told by my grand-father. To sum it up, he used to tell us of a plane that came alone in broad daylight, around noon, over a then-German-occupied Amiens, and before the German could identify the plane, plunged down to the 14-18 war monument and laid a wreath right on it. The plane then quicly rose up and got away, apparently without a scratch as the Air Defense didn't have time to react.

This is the story, and the core of my research, and there was not a lot to go with. Yet I contacted some WW2 local enthusiasts ( "Somme aviation 39-45") , who gave me some very precious help. Eventually, we had a double lucky break some times ago!

First break : we found a post-war newspaper article ( Feb 45 ) telling of the daring act of *two* British airplanes on November 11, 1941. The story was the same : they plunged through the low clouds right to the war memorial, dropped the wreath, then flew low over the city with their sirens on, and got away.
The fact this article was only released after the war, as a tribute to the pilots, can be easily explained by the censorship. Such a thing would never have been written about during the German occupation, especially in the columns of the only "legal" newspaper back then.

Second break : we crossed paths with another person, Herve DEGUINE, which was looking for his own informations. Turns out he had dug up a letter from his grandfather to his wife, in which he tells how "the British, november 11 [no year], threw flowers on the war memorial of Amiens... and coffe packages... etc". Mr Deguine was actually writing a book about his grandfather, so he was pretty sure, given his own researches, that this letter had been written in 1940. It should also be said that Mr Deguine also wrote in the English Times, probably back in January or February.

So, while it seems proven that this event took place ( we had some serious doubts going on, as we found nothing in the local archives until the newspaper breakthrough, and no one seemed to remember quite frankly the events ), we are still at a loss about the mysterious plane(s) and the heroic pilots. What plane (model) was it? Where was it from? Was it an official mission, which seems unlikely? Was it the act of soldiers, or the act civilians? Who where those men ? What was the motive?

If anyone ever heard anything about that or has theories or any insights on the matter, I'd be more than happy to hear them. I may also have some other informations that could be useful, so please ask!

Thanks for your time,
Olivier.

 

If my memory is correct this story is related in Florentin's book "Quand les alliés bombardaient la France", editions Perrin. I will look it upwhen I have a few minutes.

 

I'd be glad if you could indeed look it up. As you can guess, I do not have this book.
Thanks for your time, Skipper!