6 Group Unavailable
Graeme Stewart, Scottish aviation special interest group leader.
"From the ORB for 201 Squadron August 21st 1941 - 21.8.41 W.3982 (V/201) departed Sullom Voe at 1107 hours on AS patrol. After sending signal "Attacked by E/A" followed by SOS, aircraft failed to return to base."
Andrew Arthy of Air War Publications advised "There is one known German victory claim for a Sunderland on 21 August 1941. This was by Leutnant Fritz Karpf of the 3. Staffel of Kstenfliegergruppe 406. He claimed a Sunderland shot down in Luftwaffe map reference 16 West/3465, from an altitude of 50 to 100 metres.
This map reference equates to 63 22 30 N, 2 15 0 W, roughly 400 kilometres north-north-west of the Shetlands. The time of Leutnant Karpf"s victory claim is 17:25 (Source, Graeme Stewart, Scottish aviation special interest group leader).
The following two entries in the ORB provide information on the search area for Sunderland W3982 -
21.8.41 W3981 departed Sullom Voe at 1725 hours. Aircraft was detailed to carry out a search for V/201. At 1853 aircraft sighted u/n (unidentified) aircraft in position 63*04'N 02*15'W. A square search was made of area 63*57'N 03*15'W - 63*20'N 03*05'W - 63*20'N 01*40'W - 63*57'N 01*40'W, from 1913 to 2134 with no results. Aircraft sighted floating mine and investigated piece of white wreckage which may have been metal. Return to base 22/0210.
22.8.41 W.3981 departed base 1732 hours. Aircraft was detailed to carry out search for V/201. Aircraft intercepted two trawlers and saw three floating mines before sighting "Leicester City" and "KOS2" in positions 63*15'N 02*12'W and 63*15'N 02*07'W respectively. "Leicester City" had picked up a sleeping bag bearing Sergeant Haggar's name in position 63*30'N 02*50'W. Aircraft left trawlers at 2138 for this position and conducted search from 2152 to 2242, then abandoned search. Landed Invergordon at 23/0303..
(The only mystery about the ORB entries is the reference to Sergeant Hagger's sleeping bag; Sergeant Hagger was not listed on the crew manifest but he was part of the crew which flew in V/201 on the 2nd and 5th August. Thereafter he disappears completely from the ORB, but appears to have survived the war as his name is not recorded by the CWGC. One can only assume he probably left the squadron soon after 5th August. The way the 22nd August entry is written strongly suggests Haggar's sleeping bag came from the missing aircraft, possibly having been left there when Hagger left. Source RAF Commands)
