The crew of a He 111 from KG 26 had been ordered on 19 December 1939 to fly towards
the Orkney Islands in order to report the movements of British naval units and attack them if needed. The captain was Oberleutnant Münter and the pilot, Oberfeldwebel Moldenhauer.
Story published during the war in the magazine Der Adler.
_,e He 111 flew only a few hundred meters above the sea, just below the very low ceiling. The radio operator had taken up position at his combat post, where the machine gun was located, as the aircraft approached the Scottish coast. Suddenly the alarm bell rang and the radio communicated through the intercom that there were fighters aft. These were the British Bristol Blenheim INFs, the fighter version of the medium bomber. Already the machine-gun bursts were touching Heinkel. The crew defended themselves fiercely with their MG 15s. _e radio was wounded superficially in the forehead, changed the magazine of his machine gun and fired again. The mocking mitt, in the ventral ambush, could not put his weapon into action. He removed a MG 15 from its mount and placed it in a side window to fire at the attackers. Suddenly, the Heinkel began to make disorderly movements, which bore no resemblance to those made to escape the fire of interceptors. The English could no longer reach the plane from their quarters. Eventually the Heinkel climbed up to take shelter in the clouds and the Marconist, who no longer had to defend the plane, went to the cockpit to find out what was going on. He immediately realized the desperate situation they were in:one of the first bursts from a Blenheim had reached the pilot's seat and Moldenhauer was shot several times in the chest. The injured pilot had collapsed pulling the stick towards him. The Oberleutnant fünter, the observer, reacted promptly by evacuating Molenhauer from his seat, on which he sat, and stopped the uncontrolled movements of the aircraft, although he had never piloted an airplane. The Heinkel was flying towards England and Münter decided to take the opposite course. He knew well how to use
stick, but did not even suspect that he had to maneuver it in combination with the rudder to make a turn. This is why he described a wide curve, losing altitude dangerously, but he managed to complete the maneuver. Meanwhile, the other crew members had bandaged the pilot, who was bleeding. The Heinkel was now flying towards its base, buffeted by hail and squalls, only a few meters above the sea. Münter gained altitude, but the engines emitted violent jerks. Moldenhauer then emerged from his unconsciousness and realized what was happening. Unable to speak, he tried desperately to explain by gestures that the propellers needed to be put into climb pitch, which Münter finally understood, and the engines started working properly again.
Navigation was difficult, the radio was out of order and any help from that side was therefore to be excluded. But Münter did very well with the compass; after three hours he saw the German coast and even reached the base. Totally inexperienced, was Münter going to attempt the landing, which would undoubtedly turn into a disaster? Moldenhauer had nearly regained consciousness, although he had lost profuse blood. When he realized that Münter was hesitantly making several circuits above the airfield, he gesticulated to make it clear that he wanted to land the plane himself. With great apprehension, the crew acceded to his request; he had little choice.
Münter steered the plane in the landing direction, into the wind, and gave way to the bloodless pilot. The latter maintained the flight for two minutes, landed impeccably and collapsed... He recovered from his injuries and flew again a few months later. The entire crew was awarded the Iron Cross for this action.