Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Two Mosquitos and six Mustangs attacked Eggebeck A/F on 30-3-45?
Any info as the which units these a/c came from ?
could they be USAAF ? Invaders ?
Could not find any RAF units only 234 Sqn made any claims for gr a/c at SADE.

Thanks for any info

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Try to check 355th FG, they have claims for Schleswig and their navigation was not always good !

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Thank you Delmenhorst

I think the Mosquitos may be missleading me or the Germans got confused as well, will check 355th F.G. claims.

Regards

David

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

There were Mossie ground claims at Nordholz that night - might have stopped in at Eggebeck on the way in/out - don't have the original combat report to check against.

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

The 355th got theirs at Schleswig and Lowensatdt

Me 109, Fw 190, He 111 dest and He 111 dam at Lowenstadt
Ju 52 (3) dam at Schleswig..

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

David,

Could you please provide more info about the two Mosquitos? I have checked my notes and no specifics are given but Fighter Command and 2nd T.A.F. were active during the day and night of the 30th and did a fair amount.

It was noted that 20+ of all types of e/a were seen on the Eggebeck a/f between 1455/1605 hours.

Stephen

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Thanks for all the replays

SMF144
Info I have is :-
There were 65 a/c on the A/F AND befor the attack the a/c circled for about 15 min at 2000 meters over dispersal A/F north. 9 other Mustangs covered southern part of A/F and flew off with the oter a/c. I belive 2 Mosquitos and 6 Mustangs attacked. I only know that 234 Sqn flew a Ranger to Stade and claimed 4 Ju88's dam on the ground(to far away?), 406 Sqn claimed 3 Me323s and a Fw190 at night in Czechoslovakia I think.

Regards
David

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Well, Löwenstedt is just west of Eggebek A/F

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Compared to what? Remember they found all the airfields around Oberphaffenhofen on April 5, 1944 with 10/10 cloud cover over all of southern Germany.

When Bill Boulet was shot down by a B-17 on April 26, Scharff had him in and out of the cooler because they thought he was a spy (LW put up no a/c in defense), then when they found out he was a 355th pilot they grilled him for weeks because they thought the Allies had a new navigation technology

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

At what time of the day?

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

drgondogRe: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?

drgondog

Compared to what?


US fighters quite often claimed to have attacked targets which were many miles away from their real target. Other times they made claims like 'North of Halle' when they really did not know, where they were. This could often be 20-50 miles away.

To give you an example:

On the 7th of January 1945 55 FG (38 FS) attacked a number of trains in Denmark (Fyn and southern Jutland). They claimed to have attacked troop transports around Hamburg. Hamburg is about 100 miles away and they attacked civilian Danish trains - not troop transports.

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

That is why I questioned singling out the 355th as poor navigators.

The quality of navigation and position fixing varied with experience and visibility.

That is one reason the Experimental, then 1st, 2nd and 3rd Scouting Forces were populated with bomber pilots who had a tour of duty behind them.

Having said that, the quality of bad weather flying capability tended heavily toward the Allies because of their training prior to entering combat Ops. Even with the training hour advantage, learning to fly in Texas or Arizona did not prep a 2nd LT to fly in England and the Continent.

I don't know what your personal flying experience is but poor weather, low visibility flying takes a lot of experience to master - particularly given typical WWII instrumentation and lack of Navaids.

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

I had 14 years in the air force. I don't blame the pilots, just state the facts. I fully understand that you do not check the map during a fight and that you sometimes guess your position during the attack after you came home. I also have several actual maps 'from those days' and they were not very detailed.

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

My question to you was simply "why single out the 355th FG for 'navigational issues'?

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

what was ment was 'american fighter pilots' in general

Re: Allied attack on Eggebek A/F 30-3-45?
 

Ah, the ones that flew 500-700 miles from their bases across all of continental Europe versus the ones that struggled to get 150-200 miles away?

Interesting perspective.. I would match my father's navigation skills against any 'non American fighter pilot you might offer up..