The Last Flight

Luckily for Thurz, cloud cover prevented any further attacks  It soon became clear that the machine had been badly mauled. Both engines started to leak glycol. Thurz had hoped to power one down and limp to Norway ,but this was not to be. During past flights over Fair isle , Thurz had previously noticed hedge rows and a flat area of ground which may be used as a emergency landing area. This area was already known to the Germans. Recently they had  turned their attention to an ancient building marked on the map as The Armoury. A bomb was dropped on it to good effect.

Much to the horror of every one on board these hedgerows turned out to be fairly substantial stone dykes. Heinz takes up the story,  "  I came in over the cliffs (at the North of Fair Isle) at about 316 m.p.h with the undercarriage hydraulics damaged. I had switched the engines off earlier on. I made a dive but there was no chance of making a nice landing. I touched down but the plane jumped because it was going to fast..   I pressed it down again and crashed through a wall, then it started to burn"

The tail of the Heinkal broke off and threw out the mortally wounded Nentwig and meteorologist Leo Gubrek who was engaged in caring for the injured man. Both were killed instantly. It was Gubrek's first mission.

In the nose the rest of the crew quickly alighted. Thurz recalled " remember sitting there and thinking what a lovely view we had. I had had no time to think about anything until then because I was flying the plane. "

On Fair Isle naval staff at the North Haven base were first to spot the crippled aircraft . First on the scene however, other than a couple of locals Jimmy and Jerry Stout who  witnessed the crash ,was the garrison of anti-aircraft position which was situated near by. The only firearm which any of the soldiers carried was in the hands of the sole officer present. It didn't even have any bullets .

All three were taken to a house called Pund, once owned by the Duchess of Bedford ,to await transport out of the Isle and ultimately  captivity in Canada. After he was captured Thurz learned that his colleagues were under the impression that the crash had occurred near the isle of Burray in Orkney. An RAF radio message had been incepted to the effect that the aircraft had been "shot down by Berry" which of course was a reference to one of the Hurricane pilots.