Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Hello,

In the Personal Combat Report written by a Spitfire pilot who shot down a Me 109 in August 1944, it was told :

" ... I observed the E/A's hood fly off and the pilot searching around his cockpit. He threw out about 30 small pieces of paper and then baled out at 800 ft over the back of his aircraft ..."

I wonder what these "small pieces of paper" could be ... somebody have an idea ?

Thanks

Pierre

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Well, the Hungarian Ju 88's and Fw 189's dropped 100 000's of leaflets over the Soviet Union and sometimes they dropped few bunch of them against the attacking fighters too, to confuse them, but it is a very different story. Maybe he just tore up some personal documents before baled out.

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Maps and intelligense, mission objective I would guess.

Peter

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

But surely if he had left them in the aircraft they would have been blown to bits when the aircraft hit the ground. Why risk you life ripping up documents?

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Blown up when hitting the ground???? Not so! several hard crash sites have given up all kinds of Intellagence! Pilot ID including unit info and possible location of the unit, Via stamps etc..in the various ID books that were kept, Maps with important alternate landing airfields (Fueling Sites) on them...And other types of Paper goodies. once found, Here comes the Bombs.... And some of these paper items are still being found TODAY.... when a crash site is excavated!
Perhaps some member who has been involved in such a historical dig can add some info?
Kevin

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

surely the place of the incident might also be relevant? It seems the assumption is it was intell for the enemy, but if the pilot was miles from the front lines inside friendly territory, then perhaps it was something he wasn't supposed to have - either at all, or just in the aircraft at the time?

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

How about you were just in the process of getting shot down....I wouldn't be thinking to smartly at the time either LOL You're told to protect these papers, and you're maybe 19 or 20 years old...you are going to do what you remembered being ordered, even if it wasn't the best use of your time at the moment.

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your replies.

The German pilot was a young Unteroffizier, belonging to a Jagdeschwader. His Me 109 crashed close to his airfield, located about 200 km from the Normandy front, in a still occupied area ... and an already straffed or bombed airfield by the Allied Air Forces ! Probably the thrown up documents were intelligence, but the way this young pilot took to get rid of them, wasn't the best : they could be picked up by French partisans or Jetburg commandos who spied on the German airfield (and other German camps or installations) in the area.

I guess German pilots and crews had specifical instructions to get rid of intelligence documents when their aircraft was hit and about to crash, but was it more important than saving their life : to waste some seconds before bailing out could be fatal ...

Pierre

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Well, perhaps it was a notebook or something like that, that locked him in the cockpit? Or perhaps he had to throw it away because unable to reach something or unstrap himself.

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Dan makes a very good point above!
K

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

I also agree with Dan, not many of us can react completely rationally in sudden danger situation.

Juha

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Yes i'm with Dan on this, young pilot fresh out of training, taught from day one to destroy all documents and aircraft in the event of a crash landing behind enemy lines. Looks like he went into auto pilot, thats what training is all about, no thinking just acting as taught.
Also to consider is when the hood was jettisoned any loose papers,maps etc would have been sucked out by the slipstream. Try leaving some paper on your car seat and open both front windows at 80mph !

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Hi
I would tend to agree, I read a combat report od a luftwaffe D 520 being shot down, It had a similar comment about papers coming out when the hood was opened.
cheers
Jerry

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

we had the order to destroy all papers before or after emergency-landiing.
A few years ago I wrote in "Enemy In The Dark", page 142 about an incident with Ju 88:

"I was certain that I had been shot down by American Flak, so I called to the crew: Burn all radio-papers! Run for it!" Then we heard a German voice: " Is there anyone alive here?"

It happened with 2Z+FP at 27th Dec 1944 during Ardennes Offensive.
regards Peter Spoden

www.nachtjaegerspoden.de

Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109
 

Thank you very much Mr. Spoden. And thanks to all the persons who replied to my message : their comments were always judicious !

Pierre