21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

On this date Mosquitos of the Banff Wing and their Mustang escort encountered a force of Ju88s shooting down nine. I was hoping someone could provide me with the names of the successful crews?

Thanks in advance

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

The Mosquito's were from 42 Banff Wing, consisting of 16 from 143 Squadron, 11 from 235, 11 from 248 and 4 from 333, escorted by 24 Mustangs. Leader of the strike force was Wing Commander Foxley-North.

They had just completed an unsuccessful sweep of the Kattegut due to bad weather and had turned for home. The Mustangs at 1950 hours obtained permission from Wing Commander Foxley-North to go on ahead as they were having a party at base that night.

In bad weather, with rain, a cloud base at 600ft and poor visibility limited to 200 feet, the Mosquito pilots suddenly saw a large force of aircraft emerge out of the cloud and rain on a reciprocal couse at 2030 hours. There were 18 aircraft in six Vics of three in line astern, 150 miles off the Scottish coast. Seconds later there were shouts of Junkers over the RT.

The two KG26 staffels involved were deployed from Bardufoss in northern Norway to Stavanger-Sola, which was the German airfield in Norway closest to Scotland.Around 1800 hours 6/KG26 of II Gruppe with nine Ju88A-17's led by Staffelkapitan Oberleutnant Friedrich Ebert took off, followed by the 7/KG26 III Gruppe, with nine Ju188A-3's led by Staffelkapitan Hauptmann Fritz Gehring. The mission was to conduct a reconnaissance sweep of the north east Scottish coast.

In the ensuring one sided fight 28 men lost their lives. Nine Ju88's were shot down. No Ju188's were destroyed, although several were damaged. Claims were lodged by Wing Commander Foxley-North x 2, Flight Lt. Keohane x 1, Squadron Leader Alec Gunnis x 2, Squadron Leader John Barry x 1, Warrant Officer Coggie Cogswell x 1, Flight Lt. Ron Haskins x 1 and Flying Officer David Clark x 1. Several other claims were made by various pilots for probables.

The above is a very abridged version of events from a fantastic book titled "A Seperate Little War, The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus The Kreigsmarine And The Luftwaffe 1944-45", by Andrew Bird. A very good read.

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Thanks very much, exactly what I was looking for! Will get hold of a copy of the book. Does it mention who claimed probables and damaged?

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

No it doesn't.

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

According to the loss lists available on this site (http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html), KG 26 losses were 6 Ju88s and 1 Ju188 lost (and 28 KIA) and 4 Ju88 damaged

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Hi:

The Luftwaffe Archives Group website once had a post quoting a book titled Torpedo Los! by Rudi Schmitt regarding this action. It stated:

Lost from II./ K.G. 26 were 6 Ju.88s and the following crews:
1.Oblt. Karl-Heinz Küchenmeister, Uffz. Siegfried Berndt, Georg Bollwinkel, Fw. Heinz Schaller
2. Lt. Gerhard Schäfer, Uffz. Otto Bauer, Fw. Hubert Hoppe, Ogefr. Richard Gattner
3. Uffz. Kurt Langendorf, Uffz. Stephan Schmädicke, Ogefr. Hans Holländer, Fw. Werner Jorden
4. Fw. Hubert Traub, Uffz. Karl Walldorf, Ewald Wolkenhoff, Heinz Reale
5. Oblt. Fritz Dombrowkski, Fähnr. Alfons Pallek, Fw. Johannes Stumpf, Gefr. Koglin
6. Oblt. Friedrich Ebert, Ofw. Helmut von der Höh, Uffz. Willi Flesch, Ogefr. Harald Reimer
All 24 men never showed up again, MIA.
III./ K.G. 26 lost one Ju.188 and one crew:
Ofw. Zimmermann, Ofw. Herbert Kunze, Fw. Behrend, Ofw. Weyhrauch all MIA.


I also have also seen a claim on http://www.luftwaffe.no/RAFClaims.html for a Ju 88 on this day by Ltn. Thorlief Eriksen RNoAF and his navigator Fnr. Johan Hansen-Just RNoAF of 333 Squadron. However, I can't be sure if this claim was part of the melee above or a separate action - would welcome input on this.

Cheers,

Mark


PS Laurent, thanks for the link. That's a great site.

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Very nice link Laurent, thanks. :) It provides confirmation again that claims are almost always much higher than real losses.

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

This has all helped me a lot, thanks everyone!!

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Hey Mark

Yes, Ltn. Eriksen from 333 SQN as an fighter escorte was also allowed 1 Ju 88 destroyed in this air combat

Spring greetings from Norway

Knut

http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Thank you Knut

You have a very informative site there, by the way.

How is spring in Norway? Was in Tokyo a few days ago - the cherry blossoms were just coming out. Time for some sake!

Cheers,

Mark

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Hi Mark

Well it is still late winter to day in this country......

However I look forward to the summer season when I am going to climb some mountains to look fore some Lufttwaffre crash site in the South-Norway.

By the way I am only an amateur but look at these guys
http://home.no.net/kjellsor/

Knut

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Thanks Knut:

Neat site - their mossie is listed incorrectly though. Should be W4054, not W4050. W4050 is the prototype, still cozily hangared at Salisbury Hall, near St. Albans!

Cheers,

Mark

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Thank You Mark for making me aware of this error in my homepage.
I'll correct it imediately.:o

Regards Kjell
http://home.no.net/kjellsor/

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

No worries, Kjell.

W4050 is about the only Mossie about whose whereabouts I'm 100% certain!

Cheers,

Mark

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

I am glad some info is in this thread that I was looking for....initially I was looking for the unit that was responsible for shooting down II/KG 26 aircraft on 21.4.1945.

I have just read "Achtung-Torpedos Los!" by Rudi Schmidt on the incident and there is an error in the crew listing of Langendorf.

Aircraft Ju 88 A-17

(F) Uffz. Langendorf, Kurt [vm.]
(B) Uffz. Schmädicke, Stephan [vm.]
(Bf) Ogfr. Holländer, Hans [vm.]
(Bs) Fw. Jorden, Werner [vm.]

The Bordschützen was actually Fw. Arno Oskar Jordan, however the Fw. abbreviation must have confused someone somewhere as his rank is recorded as Feuerwerker on the Volksbund site, a rank he never was as he was indeed a Feldwebel.....he remains lost at sea and I did not see him in the Vemisstenbildliste.

/Ian

Re: 21/4/45 Banff Wing
 

Hi Jim,
Currently rewriting, reworking into a more readable book which will be under a new title too - being sandwiched between other work.
Kind regards
Andy Bird