Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

On sunday 30-1-1944 a heavy dogfight took place over the mid of Holland
At least 10 Bf 109 went down that day. Several German planes are still not recovered. Who can give me details about German and American units who participate in this dogfight and further details.

Best Regards

Gerrit Kamphuis

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Gerrit, FW190A-6's and BF109G-6 from JG26 and P-38's of the US 20 FG. These are the only ones that I have info for in this area that went down. I don't know of the other units involved as there was suppose to be P-47's involved.

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

II./JG 27 claimed a probable P-47 over Holland and lost 2 Bf 109 this day (1 KIA, 1 WIA) in unknown (to me) location.

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Gerrit:
4th FG , 335th Sq.- 1 loss
20th FG , 79th Sq. - 2 lost
361st FG , 374th Sq. - 1 loss
Mike

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Gerrit the 352FG claimed 4 109's plus two probables along the line W Zuider Zee to Zwolle, plus 2 Fw 190's and one Me 110 in the Emmen to Nordhorn area.

The 353rd claimed one Me 109, one Fw 190, one Ju 88 and one Me 110 in the Vechta, Deventer, Quackenbruck area.

The 358th claimed one Me 109 plus 4 probables E Zwolle.

The 359th claimed two Me 109s's near Lingen-Haselumne area

The 361st claimed 4 Me 109s plus two probables in the Rheine area

The 4th claimed 2 probable 109's in the Lingen area

The 56th claimed 8 Me 109's plus a variety of other ships long the Lingen Quackenbruck line.

The 20th whacked several Me 410's, Do 217's and an Fw 190 over the target area near Brunswick

the 78th got one Me 109 over Rheine.

So - either the 56th or the 352nd seems to be the likely suspects of your search depending on the location.

hope that helps

Bill Marshall

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

c. Ist Fighter Corps commitment
(1) Friendly forces were committed as follows:
1st Fighter Division units: over Brunswick
2nd Fighter Division units: over Hannover and Minden.
3rd Fighter Division units: over Münster and Diepholz.
(2) The weather was so overcast that assembly in closed combat formations proved very difficult. Only 137 of our single- and twin-engine fighters were able to contact the enemy, and most of those became involved in individual combat. This, together with adverse weather conditions, resulted in rather high German losses. On the whole, 30 January 1944 had to be chalked up as a failure for the day fighter units assigned to home air defense.
(3) Total commitment: 351 single- and twin-engined fighters.

d. Enemy losses
17 bombers and 6 fighters definitely brought down.
9 bombers and 1 fighter probably brought down.

e. Own losses
30 aircraft completely destroyed,
21 aircraft more than 60% damaged.
Personnel:
30 missing
9 dead
13 wounded.

f. Weather conditions
10/10 cloud cover between 300 and 3,000 m.

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

The German losses belong to II./JG 11 and III./JG 1.

Regards,

John.

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Losses in this aera, show around Hannover I.JG1 , II+III JG1 over Holland, III.JG26 Holland, II.JG27 Holland, III.JG301 Holland, I.JG26 Germany NW

At least 50 planes suffered losses, diff. degrees, diff causes among these units

Remi

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Hello,
German losses over Holland that day are from:
III./JG 1, II./JG 11, II./JG 26, III./JG 26, II./JG 27 and III./JG 301!
Regards,
Karl Lusink

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

The losses mentioned by Gerrit Kamphuis are coming from III./JG 1, II./JG 11 and III./JG 301. Several are still MIA.

John

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

John,

Are these cases of MIA's west of the "Apeldoornsche Canal" at the Veluwe in The Netherlands?

Jaap Woortman

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

The MIA's of II./JG 11 and III./JG 301 probably are, the MIA's of III./JG 1 are east of the IJssel. During the late eighties and nineties I had contact with most relatives of these MIA's.

cheers,

John.

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Hello Gentlemen

is this air battle the one so vividly ( if innaccurately ) described by Heinz Knoke in his book "I Flew For The Fuhrer" ? Knoke says that II/JG11 (his unit ) were transferring to Arnhem when they were bounced by Spitfires ! and gives the losses as
4/JG11- 5 killed
6/JG11- 3 lost ( killed ?)
StabII/JG11 - 1 lost ( killed ?)
5/JG/11 - Fw Nowotny killed
Lt Knoke ( himself ) shot down near Hilversum - unhurt
Ofw.Raddatz - shot down near Hilversum - unhurt
He goes on to say that only Major Specht ( the Gruppe C/O ) manages to shoot down a Spitfire
Obviously no Spitfires where involved in this fight and as Specht was in fact credited with a P.47 it is probable that the combat was with either the 4th FG ( who lost Lt.E.R.Mead near Lingen ) or 361St FG (who lost Lt
E.F.Amason near Rijssen) the only 2 P.47's lost on 30 Jan 1944.
However as 56th FG, 78th FG, 352ndFG , 352nd, 358th FG and 359th FG all also made claims in the general Holland/Germany border area this needs a bit more investigation
Cheers
Bruce Lander

Re: Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland
 

Yes it is.

Regards,

John.