Re: JG54 Victories
 

Overall, in this raid, 13 Il-2s were lost, they were considered both victims of FW-190 and AAA.
3 other planes (1 Yak-9 and 2 A-20s, the Bostons were both shot down by AAA) were lost on this raid, for a final total of 16 aircraft.
10 Il-2s were also damaged.
21 enemy planes were claimed shot down by soviet pilots.

All this according to "Aviatsiya VMF v Velikoi Otechestvennoi Voine".


According to John Weal's Osprey book " Jagdgeschwader 54 'Gruenherz' ", JG54 claimed 44 victories that day.

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Oblt Gerhard Thyben 7./JG54
14Dec44 12:16 Il-2 07 632
14Dec44 12:24 Il-2 07 661

Maj. Franz Eisenach Stab I/JG54
14Dec44 12:11 Il-2 7466
14Dec44 12:15 Il-2 7635

Do you know any of the other JG54 pilots involved in that raid or that day?

Re: JG54 Victories
 

16Sep42 10:30- (Moscow)
Mayor Viktor Alexandrovich Rozhdestvenskii (KIA) (Last name translates as Christmas) 12 IAE KBF was shot down in his MiG-3 attacking a lone Ju-88 after two Bf-109's dived on him. He departed from Vystav but his crash location was Zhikharevo.

JFV 9/III by Jochen Prien

8./JG54 Lt Hans-Joachim Heyer MiG-3 (36) 09:50 PlQu. 10271
8./JG54 Uffz Arthur Stern MiG-3 (6) 09:56 PlQu. 10271

6./JG54 Fw Alfred Dettke MiG-3 (24) 10:05 PlQu 10244

I don't know which PlQu equates closer to Zhikharevo. If it's 10271 it's a over claim by by Heyer or Stern.

Mayor Viktor Rozhdestvenskiy
 

Hello Nokose

I used the Luftwaffe grid location map calculator at www.gyges.dk/LUMA.xls and if I am using it correctly, which is a very big if, I got that the two claims by Heyer and Stern are closer to Zhikharevo (Zhicharevo on the map) than the claim by Dettke. Heyer's and Stern's claim are about four miles to the west and Dettke's claim is about six and a half miles north-northwest of Zhicharevo by my results. Please note that I used 36 Ost as the prefix. If anyone else would care to compare these results to those of their own it would be a nice thing as I am not very sure how to use that calculator correctly.

Horrido!

Leo

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Rozhdestvenskiy's crash was suppose to be close enough to Zhikharevo for the towns people to bury him. So it must have been a sharp glide down to the crash point.

Re: JG54 Victories
 

22Oct42 Lake Ladoga
Source: BC/RS #3 by Bergstrom, Dikov and Antipov
German attempt to capture the island of Sukho
VVS losses: 3 Il-2 and 2 I-15

Source: The Butchers of Yu. A. The Guardsmen of the Balyic Wing by I.I. Tsapov and V.N. Konev
22Oct42 14:45-14:50 (Moscow)
11 IAP KBF
I-15 Serz Drochenko (KIA)
I-15 Serz Prokofyev (KIA)

JFV 9/III by J. Prien
2./JG54 Oblt Siegfried Graf Matuschka I-15 (24) 13:55 PlQu 1161
2./JG54 Fw Herbert Broennle I-15 (33) 13:56 PlQu 1161

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Kari,
Reference Post #8 (18Feb07) for Erwin Leykauf. I looked at Tony Woods list and it doesn't have it listed as 25 Ost only 99553. If you look at 15Ost/99553 it's west of Estonia and in the Gulf of Finland area. I believe that's why they listed it to JG54. German sea convoys would have been in that area.

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Hello!

15Ost99553 is over Gotska Sandön-island which is Swedish territory on Baltic Sea. It is not Gulf of Finland area. Distance from Tartu (Dorpat) some 360 km.

25Ost99553 is near Pljussa some 130 km from Tartu. Though Leykauf may have flown also from Pskov. Leykauf claimed over German 18th Army area (see attachment).

Decide yourself which one is the more likelier.

Cheers,
Kari

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Kari,
I looked at it again and they have that plane being lost in the Baltic Sea with credit for it's loss as 11./JG54. The PlQu that I looked at in JFV 6/II shows it as open sea above that island. It also showed that they had been making raids in the Tallin area in days before this incident.

Re: JG54 Victories
 

Hello!

Please. Consider the geography also. Took a look of this map for example:
http://www.bellabs.ru/51/Index/Map-Baltic800.html

In my mind there is no doubt whatsoever that Leykauf did NOT claim his Boston over Baltic Sea. Gotska Sando is not near Tallinn for heaven's sake.

What is possible is that the 1 GvMTAP Boston was on one of the "standard" return routes from Baltic Sea which went over Bay of Riga towards East until over frontline and then back to home base. This would take the plane to the area near Pljussa. A PoW interrogation protocol explains these routes and this I have learned after my posting in Feb 2007 (#8).

In other words I find it now plausible that it indeed was 1 GvMTAP Boston. But the shoot-down location is over land, near Pljusssa.


Regards,
Kari