On 20 October 1939, the four-man crew of KG26's Heinkel He 111, coded 1H+JA, took off from Westerland airfield on Sylt for a high-risk reconnaissance mission over Glasgow and the Firth of Forth. As the weather cleared over Scotland, the bomber became an easy target for British defenses. Anti-aircraft fire and Spitfires from Nos. 602 and 603 Squadrons quickly engaged the aircraft. After a series of strafing attacks damaged both engines and injured the pilot, the Heinkel was forced into a crash landing near Humbie, East Lothian. It broke in two on impact and became the first German aircraft to crash relatively intact on British soil during WWII.
