Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Can anyone tell me when Esau Ewald became a staffelkapitan and also when he scored his 71st kill? I have the latter as claimed over a P-51 on 01/03/1945 but other sources have it as an IL-2M3 a week later.

regards

Keith

Heinz Ewald JG52 unconfirmed claims
 

According to Wikipedia he made 15 unconfirmed claims, can anyone tell me when these occurred. I also read that he destroyed 9 trucks and 8 other vehicles (I assume these were staff cars etc.) does anyone have any information on these/

best regards

Keith

Heinz Ewald JG 52
 

Hi Kieth

All the information that I have seen states that he became Staffelführer of 6./JG 52 on 15 February 1945. 6./JG 52 on 1 March was redesignated 7./JG 52. My information is that indeed he claimed his 71st victory that day although he was also brought down by German Flak. I hope this helps and any comments or corrections are welcome.

Horrido!

Leo

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Cheers Leo. I found he made unconfirmed claims (from the JG52 website) on 11.06.1944 (P-51) and 08/03/45 (IL-2M) but no further details. Ewald is a problem. In December 1943 he is a gefreiter according to Lipfert but other sources promote him to Uffz. He is flying with 6./JG52 on 5/12/1943 according to Lipfert but with Stab.II/JG52 according to a Russian source. His RK award identifies him as a member of 5./JG52 but he is with 7./JG52 according to his victory tally....

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

The vehicle claims relate to a ground strafe in 1944 when 9 trucks and 3 SPW were destroyed by his flight...plus some horse-drawn stuff.

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Hi Keith

71st confirmed claim on 11th March 1945 a Yak-9

u/c are:-

23rd January 1944 P-39 1430 hrs
24th January 1944 Yak-1
25th January 1944 Yak-1
1st March 1944 Yak-1
11th March 1944 Yak-1
21stMarch 1944 Yak-7
2nd April 1944 P-40
6th June 1944 2 x Yak-1
11th June 1944 P-51
24th June 1944 B-24 1135 hrs Buzau
28th October 1944 Boston 1420 hrs
14th November 1944 Yak-9
8th December 1944 Yak-9
8th March 1945 Il-2 Stuhlweissenburg area

total confirmed= eighty-three

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Cheers Johannes,

I always thought his B-24 was confirmed. He saw it fall on fire before he was shot down. Did he claim two?

best regards

Keith

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Just read my Lipfert diary. He states that only two claims were made by II/JG52 and that neither was by Ewald (Lipfert B-24, and another by Uffz Heinrich Tammen) Although the JG52 War diary states "Ltn.Heinz Ewald (21) wird nach Abschuß einer B-24 (29. Ls.) von mehreren Begleit*jägern gejagt und abgeschossen. Schwer verwundet gelingt es ihm, ca .3 km südöst*lich Mizil, mit dem Fallschirm abzuspringen."

best regards

Keith

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

In his logbook he didn't claim not one ... you find the following: "Luftkampf mit 40 Liberator, abgeschossen von Liberator, Fallschirmabsprung" ("air combat with 40 Liberator, shoot down by Liberator, parachute jump").

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

That is superb! According to his memoir he sees the B-24 fall before he is shot down therefore he misremembers. Having said that he probably didn't make any sort of claim for a while because his wounds were so serious that it was not sure he'd survive. Take that claim out and as Johannes very rightly states it's unconfirmed at best.

regards

Keith

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

Hi Keith

Only one B-24 and u/c. JG 52 had few confirmed US aircraft. Obleser claimed nine, but stated that he was too pressured by other enemy aircraft to observe the actual crashes. Hartmann just one Mustang. Many claims were never officially made due to the pilots death, or as mentioned above badly wounded. Rall's confessed to Bernd Barbas that the Thunderbolt he actually shot down the day he was wounded he didn't do the paperwork for!

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

It's obvious he either remembered more after he recovered or decided to embellish his version of events because in "More Bf109 aces of the Russian Front" he states that his bomver "dropped away in a shallow curve with its entire left wing in flames" (Quoted from Esau 1990). Another source only lists claims for Birkner and Hartmann on that day, although as I mentioned in another entry Lipfert and his wingman also claimed. Ewald seems to believe at least three B-24s are destroyed and several damaged in the combat. So there's a lot of confusion as to the events of 24 June. I know that Rumanian pilots made claims for at least 3 B-24 and Lipfert mentions 11 kills for raid (presumably LW claims only). The USAAF lost 10 aircraft that day, one from 450th BG, another from 93rd BG, the 456th BG lost an aircraft which ditched...not sure about the identities of others.

regards

Keith

Re: Heinz Ewald JG52
 

A quick correction. 450th BG lost at least 3, and 376th at least one. Unsure if the 93rd BG lost an aircraft over Rumania.

regards

Keith