Reason for loss:

The crew members of Messerschmitt BF110C ZG2 took off from Guyancourt in North-Central France just outside Paris with Pilot Oberleutnant Ernst Hollekamp at the controls & his gunner Feldwebel Richard Schurk, on bomber escort duties. Making their way out through France & across the channel they reach the Sussex area of the South Downs when they are intercepted by a lonely British Hawker Hurricane fighter flown by P/O H N E Salmon of 1 Squadron operating from RAF Tangmere.  At 22,000ft Salmon dives to attack the bomber formation when Hollekamp’s 110 appears in view at which he immediately fires a short burst of fire bringing the port engine to a smoking stop. Hollekamp & Schurk manage to escape the furiously burning aircraft which begins to break up in mid-air with its wreckage spreading out over three quarters of a mile over the area of Eastbourne. Tragically for Hollekamp his parachute fails to open & falls to his death, landing on the roof of Hillbrow in Gaudick Road just over a quarter of a mile from where the main bulk of his aircraft lands in the grounds of Aldro School, Darley Road at 5.30pm. Hollekamp’s Gunner Richard Schurk is witnessed coming down under an open chute into the English Channel but with local feelings running high, no attempt is made to rescue him. He drowns. 

Burial details:

Both Hollekamp & Schurk are buried together at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery in England. Today, a 1970’s annex building covers the area at Aldro School where the wreckage of the BF110 came to rest. — in Eastbourne.

Page compiled by Alexander D King December 2025. Research & Acknowledgement: Then and Now, Matt Goldsmith, Alexander D King.