Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

16/05/1940
Me Bf-109 Flak 100%
2./JG 27
Uffz Sawallisch Otto (KIA)

Does somebody knows the crashsite ?

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi,im reading aircraft of aces and some other book ive seen this name, but try to find name at back index not mention,but as i like france blitz,battle of france and britain,ill let you know when i read again the books,,
gary,

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Hello,

Otto Sawallisch was not killed when his Bf109E-3 crashed in Belgium, he went on to serve with JG.27 in Africa, he was thought to have committed suicide on August 19th 1942 due to possibillity of court martial arising from questions about false claims
The reason for his crash in Belgium on 16 may 1940 is "DCA,atterrissage force" noted in "Les pertes de la Chasse allemande de jour en Belgique 1940 - 1945 Tome 1" by Pierre Watteeuw
Cheers
Bruce Lander

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi, just read aircaft aces book, yes sawallish, killed 41.thats were i saw the name i was lookin through my 50+ aircraft, books to find him, yes ,he was killed in afrika.
gary,

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Guys,

Otto Sawallisch (2 Claims with 2/JG27 -one on 1 Jun 1940) does not appear to have been the same pilot as Erwin Sawallisch (36) who flew with JG77 (a 4/JG77 claim on 13 Jun 1940) and later infamously with 4/JG27 in 1941.

Incidentally, Erwin Sawallisch (36) has at least 3 Verified Victories. However, of his 17 claims in Afrika none have been Verified (though at least one is possible) and 11 have been identified as Overclaims -one researcher who has generously shared data with me has characterized at least 10 of his last 14 claims as “Pure invention”. I hope this provokes an in depth discussion of this pilot and the allegations surrounding him and his schwarm. Does anyone remember the other pilots of his infamous schwarm and can someone post a photo of Sawallisch and his schwarm mates?


Rob Romero

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Holá Rob,
as usual the "old faithfuls" have to step in to keep the thread going. I have posted a photo and you'll find the names of the entire "Schwarm of the Liars". What I will find about them I send you by e-mail so you can continue the discussion. I am fed-up with this discussions where posters feel to come up with their personal opinions and disregard the facts.
Cheers
Horst
P.S.
Did you find anything in your "Aces databank" regarding Hans Phillipp as per my e-mail request?

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Uffz./Fw. Otto Sawallisch (2./JG 27, 2 visc.) and Fw./Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch (4./JG 27, 38 vics.) were completely different persons !
In August 1942 members of “Experten-Schwarem” from 4./JG 27 claimed no less then 63 victories, probably all of them were false.
Individually it was:

Ofw. Karl-Heinz Bendert – 23 (19-41) – survived WWII as Oblt., total 54 vics.
Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch – 18 (16-33) – KiFA 19 August 1942
Ofw. Franz Stiegler – 11 (6-17) – survived WWII as Oblt., total 28 vics.
Oblt. Ferdinand Vögl – 10 (21-30) – survived WWII as Hptm., total 33 vics.

Later came also

Uffz. Ferdinand Just – 1, PoW 29 August 1942, total 1.


Fw. Otto Sawallisch died on 18 August 1940 – previously listed as missing, his body was washed up ashore 3 weeks later in Etrétart area.
He was indeed shot down by a-a fire on 16 May 1940 (as Uffz.).
As the matter of location of this event, I’ve only found, that on 15 May I/JG 27 was trensferred to Jeneffe airfield (south Liege) and on 16 May it opereted mostly in Brussel area.

Regards

Nef

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi,tell me more, false claims,by luftwaffe pilots,its the first time ive ever known about these people,,did they make these statements,shorley, if high command knew they would have been demoted,to the floor, cleanin,
thanks for this knowlege,
gary

False Claimers
 

Rob Romero

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi,many thanks ROB,its the first time ive ever heard of, this tale,(WOW),
something to add to my brain cells more,on fighter aces,and much,app""
ill look at this even more, but some books tend to not mention these things,but its people like you who get the matters workin,i wouldnt have known this story,THANKS,
GARY,CHEERS,,

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Hi,

Here's an extract about this subject from my Honours thesis:

The most notable example of the Luftwaffe ace culture’s impact in North Africa was the falsification of victory claims by a small group of 4./J.G. 27 pilots in mid-1942. Few Axis aerial victories were claimed in August, with the exception of these 4./J.G. 27 pilots, who claimed numerous victories almost daily. Other J.G. 27 pilots had their suspicions, and these were confirmed on 16 August when a 2./J.G. 27 pilot came across five 4./J.G. 27 pilots shooting off their ammunition in the desert in a mock combat. Slipping away unnoticed, the 2./J.G. 27 pilot landed at base. When the 4./J.G. 27 pilots returned, they claimed twelve victories between them. Some 58 false victory claims were submitted between 20 June and 12 October 1942, along with others that were suspicious. Most of these occurred in August. As if to confirm their guilt, on the day after they were discovered, one member of the Staffel committed suicide in his Bf 109.[1] This series of events was never reported to the Luftwaffe high command, and one of these pilots later received the Ritterkreuz (Knight’s Cross). This was the only known case of Axis falsification of victory claims in North Africa in 1942, but it is a stark example of how much the ace culture affected German fighter pilots in North Africa.

[1] Luftwaffe Victory Claims Microfilm Material; Shores & Ring, Fighters Over the Desert, p.160




Here are some figures regarding Luftwaffe claims and British losses in North Africa in 1942:

Table 6: German Victory Claims in North Africa [1]
(British losses to Axis fighters in brackets)


Month Total Claims Bombers Fighters
February 1942 *: 55 (34) 3 (3) 52 (31)
March 1942: 36 (32) 7 (8) 29 (24)
April 1942: 42 (42) 2 (8) 40 (34)
May 1942: 97 (80) 6 (7) 91 (73)
June 1942: 195 (144) 23 (18) 172 (126)
July 1942: 167 (119) 9 (10) 158 (109)
August 1942: 115 (65) 7 (3) 108 (62)
September 1942: 147 (95) 2 (1) 144 (94)
October 1942 **: 77 (43) 4 (0) 73 (43)
TOTAL 930 (654) 63 (58) 867 (596)


* from 10 February 1942 ** until 23 October 1942


[1] This table includes the falsified victory claims of 4./J.G. 27; source for victories is Luftwaffe Victory Claims Microfilm Material; source for British losses is Shores & Ring, Fighters Over the Desert, pp.93-190


Hope that is readable.


Cheers,
Andrew A.

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi,thanks again for info,its new to me, this staffell,jg27 4 members, well intresting stuff,,a great read,
gary

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

“Schwarm of the Liars” is the only example of evident and proven falsification of victories by german fighters during WWII found by me – that’s why it’s so interesting. I’ve read about this event over 10 years ago for a first time, unfortunatelly – the most of the sources with informations about this event are polish-languauge books, no originals.
So, I’m very glad to see Shores’ source here.
I’ve got also a detailed list of “Experten-Schwarm’s” victories. If somebody is interested, please send e-mail on my pm box.

In the parenthesis – numbers of victories, of course!

Here’s free translation of these polish books:

In first days of August 1942 four pilots from the same Schwarm of 4./JG 27 begun to claim big number of victories. Very soon it was called “Experten-Schwarm”. Pilots, who had their successes very rarely earlier, suddenly started to win air combats every day and their accounts started to grow very fast. And so it was :

3 August: 2; Bendert 1, Sawallisch 1,
4 August: 4; Bendert 2, Sawallisch 2,
5 August: 1; Bendert 1,
6 August: 3; Bendert 2, Stiegler 1,
7 August: 9; Bendert 3, Sawallisch 2, Stiegler 2, Vögl 2,
10 August: 8; Bendert 2, Sawallisch 2, Stiegler 2, Vögl 2,
11 August: 5; Sawallisch 2, Vögl 2, Stiegler 1,
12 August: 12; Bendert 5 !, Sawallisch 4, Stiegler 3,
14 August: 2; Sawallisch 2.

Some other, very experienced pilots like Stahlschmidt, Sinner, Börngen – knew, that air combat wasn’t a play and getting so much successes by unexperienced pilots was very suspected.
The pressure in JG 27 was growing till 16 August.
On that day Lt. Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt from 2./JG 27 with his wingman started from Fuka and shot down 2 P-40 on 8.15 and 8.25 hours. After landing in the base he came to kommodore JG 27, Maj. Edu Neumann, claimed 2 victories and reported that during his second fight saw 5 Bf 109 shooting into sand!
There was only Expereten-Schwarm in the air in that time.
When these pilots landed, they claimed 12 victories ! (Bendert 3, Sawallisch 3, Vögl 3, Stiegler 2, Just 1).
Pilots denied to Stahlschmidt’s report, confirming victories to each other.
Maj. Neumann decided not to inform High Command, because he didn’t want Jagdgeschwader to lose good opinion. All their victories were cancelled, but after official confirmation by OKL in Berlin they have stayed on their accounts. Experten-Schwarm was unformed and the pilots were moved to other staffels. The new Rommel’s offensive was to come and every pilot was valuable.
It supposed to be end of the conflict, but final came very soon. On 19 August Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch started in his Bf 109 after technical check-up, but didn’t come back. It is unknown, if he killed himself or if it was a revenge of angry mechanics, whose hard work was wasted.
His body was found the next day on the beach of Mediterranean Sea.
Ten days later, on 29 August, Uffz. Just was taken PoW. His account has stayed on 1.
The rest survived the war, everybody in officer’s ranks.

Little correction – Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch achieved total of 33 victories (not 38, wrote by me in previous post), fom which 9 were claimed on the East Front and 24 in JG 27. No less then 18 of these 24 were false.

It looks that a leader of the Schwarm was Bendert (not Vögl, who was the only officer and staffelkapitän) – he claimed the bigger number of victories and as a first increased it for a single day. However, this is only my personal speculation.

Regards

Nef

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

hi, thanks you for your info,well intriging.stuff,
gary

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

on a lighter note this story would make a great tv drama,or film"any taratinos out there..
gary___________well im hoping to win the lotto soon ,so.look out.

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

While reading JFV 6/I for the Stab/JG27 I saw that Obfw Erwin Sawallisch shot down on 21Sep41 at 09:52(10) and 09:55 (11) two I-153 at Leningrad. I didn't find any other JG's making a claim for I-153's. It appears that he might have shot down the I-153 flown by St. Lt. Viktor Mikhailovich Gavrilov (KIA) of 71 IAP KBF. It also listed Lt Mazurenko (WIA) and Pavel Ignatyevich Chinyakov (WIA) but it wasn't clear if their I-153 went down in the source. Chinyakov claimed a Bf-109 shot down and there is actually two JG27 Bf-109's shot down at that location.

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Hello Nokose,

Looking for informations about victories of Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch from Stab/JG 27 in Tony Wood’s list, I’ve found following claims (all without numbers):

25 Aug. 41 – 1 I-153
11 Sept. 41 – 1 Pe-2
4 Oct. 41 – 2 I-18 and 2 DB-3

Unfortunatelly I haven’t found any victory claimed by him on 21 Sept. but it is very possible that this list is incomplete. The only claim for a whole JG 27 on this day I've found was 1 I-18 claimed by Ofw. Franz Blazytko from 9./JG 27 (place no indicated).

As I know, in his short period of combat flying on the East Front, Sawallisch claimed 9 victories. Including these mentioned by You from 21 Sept., there is still 1 missing.
Do You know, when did he claim it and what type of a/c was it?

Regards

Nef

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Here is what I found in JFV 6/I Erwin Sawallisch.
25Aug41 10:50 (8) I-153 E of Ljuban
11Sep41 17:38 (9) Pe-2 Wolchowskaja Pristanj
04Oct41 10:45 (12) I-18 Michjejewa
13:55 (13) DB-3 "
13:56 (14) DB-3 "
14:08 (15) SB-2 Spass

The I-18 that is listed for Obfw Franz Blazytko 9/JG27 on 21Sep41 14:38 W. of Oranienbaum is possibly St. Lt. Nikolai Mikhaiovich Nikitin 5IAP KBF who's MiG-3 was shot down approx. 15:40 (Moscow).

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Dear Nokose,

Thank You very much for these informations.
I hope You'll find detailed answers for Your questions about Sawallisch on 21 Sept. 41.

All the best

Nef

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

21Sep41 the 9./JG27 had Lt Joachim Hinkelman (WIA) Bf-109E-4 (Wknr 3639) 100% damaged and Uffz Ewald Hacker (MIA) Bf-109E-7 (Wknr 1499) 100% damaged. I know that Pavel Chinyakov got one of them or possibly both unless it was Viktor Gavrilov (KIA) who Sawallisch claimed along with another I-153. Maybe the actual report has more detail.

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Just found this old post;

Enjoy,

Rob

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Well, Christopher Shores is well awared of deficiencies of his book (well, there were co-authors as well), but obviously there cannot be so many omissions to completely distort the general view.
I am afraid it is another sample of proving a politically biased thesis at all cost.

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

I've become curious about the 3 Verified claims mentioned at the first of this thread for Erwin Sawllisch. Where they in the west? Besides the two I-153's claimed over Leningrad that were possibly the ones lost from 71IAP KBF there might be another. It seems that Erwin Sawallisch shot down a MiG-3 over Kishinev on 15Jul41. St. Lt. Alexander Pokryshkin of 55IAP crashed his MiG-3 approx. 50 km west of that location in the swamp in Grozeshti (see BOOK post for Denes Bernard's "From Barbarossa to Odessa). Possible?

Erwin Sawallisch
 

Hello Nokose

Wood's files list six victories in the west for Feldwebel Erwin Sawallisch with 4./JG 77 through 1939-1940. These were:

1. 30 October 1939 Blenheim 15:23 NE Helgoland
2. 14 December 1939 Wellington 15:28 N Wangerooge
3. 14 December 1939 Wellington 15:30 N Wangerooge
4. 30 April 1940 Wellington 20:50 SW Stavanger
5. 13 June 1940 Skua 2:10 Trondheim
6. 8 September 1940 Hudson 19:45 Bergen

I hope that this helps.

Horrido!

Leo

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Leo, Thanks for that information. I checked in the "Fledgling Eagles" by Christopher Shores and found the following for Fw. Erwin Sawallisch II/JG77.
30Oct39 Blenheim IV (N6234) Plt Off W.G. McCracken 139 Sqdn
14Dec39 two Wellingtons 99 Sqdn
30Apr40 Wellington 37 Sqdn
13Jun40 Skua 800 or 803 Sqdn
08Sep40 Hudson (N7268) 224 Sqdn

It also had that he had 3 victories from the Civil War in Spain.

Erwin Sawallisch
 

Hello Nokose

Indeed, Jim Perry's Spanish Civil War victory claims list has Unteroffizier Sawallisch credited with the following victories:

1. 13 November 1936 J 88 Curtiss
2. 12 December 1936 4./J 88 SB-2
3. 4 January 1937 4./J 88 Curtiss

I hope that you find this information useful.

Horrido!

Leo

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Christer is correct re the 1 SAAF fight. I am sure I have found from the Operational and Intelligence records, which Chris didnt have access to in 1967 or so, that 4 Staffel had an encounter with the RAF on all the days the experte schwarm made dubious claims, but beoynd damaging some aircraft I dont believe they shot anything down.

Regards

Russell

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Source: http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m_134140/tm.htm


Source Kittyhawks over the Sands, Micheal Lavigne, ISBN, 2-9806879-1-x, page 80.
Not a word for word Quote, but it reveals wishful writing, but I would still like to know the serial number of his plane..

six P-40s of the 57FG and 12, 260 Sqdn. RAF ( Kittyhawks ) escorted Baltimores and 11 Bostons to bomb El Fuka airport. When the formation was attacked by ten Bf-109s, of II/JG-27 and four from III/JG-53, the P-40s turned into the attack and Lt. William O'Neil fought 5 by himself, claimed ( unfounded) to have shot down two Bf-109s before being shot down bailing out of his burning plane. He was rescued later in the sea. O'Neill was from the 65FS and flying as a wingman with section Leader Ron Cundy, RAF 260 Sqdn . The bombers were SAAF . His claims weren't allowed as the Me 109 units, lost no planes in that combat.


German claims 14 Aug 1942

14. August 1942

Fliegerführer Afrika
14.08.42 Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch: 29 4./JG 27 Curtiss P-40

14.08.42 Ofw. Herbert Krenz: 12 6./JG 27 Curtiss P-40 nördl. El-Hammam 06.25 Film C. 2036/II Anerk: Nr.64

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Hello to all,

regarding the air combats of the morning of August the 14th 1942 I've had a quick look into my books (all secondary sources) and this is what I've found.

Starting with "Fighters over the desert" :
A combined action against the Axis airstrips of Fuka and Daba started at around 06.20 with the take off of a formation of twelve Baltimores escorted by twenty-two South African Kittyhawks coming from 2 SAAF and 4 SAAF aimed at LG 18. Ten minutes later (i.e. at 6.30) Twelve P40s of 260 Squadron and six P40s of 57 FG took off to cover twelve Boston attacking Fuka.

BTW from previous studies of a friend of mine on the air war in the sector it seems that there was sistematically an hour of difference in the reports of Axis and Allied during summer 1942, this means that the take off hours of those bombers and fighters were 5.20 and 5.30 in Axis time.

"Eagles Strike" a book on SAAF operations written in 1974 by James Ambrose Brown (a book that made extensive use of the pieces of info contained in FOTD) reported a slightly different version:
On 14 August Colonel Martin ordered No. 24 Squadron to make a dawn take off. The target was dispersed aircraft at LG 19. Escorts were provided by three South African fighter Squadrons Nos, 2,4 and 5. After take off from LG 99 the eleven Bostons and twelve Baltimores formed up in the familiar formidable squadron vic so well-known to the armies below, eleven Kittyhawks of 2 Squadron swarmed around the Baltimores in close escort while eleven of No 4 Squadron took position as top cover; twelve Tomahawks of No 5 Squadron gave close and medium cover to the Bostons which were briefed to attack Fuka station and the dispersed aircraft near it.(...) The formation of 57 aircraft claimed five direct hit at LG 19 and started fires at Fuka station.

"Desert Warriors" by Russel Brown (another book that used FOTD as reference) reported that (...) on 14 August, twelve aircraft of 260 Squadron with another six from the 57 FG escorted Bostons to bomb Fuka station.

"P40 Warhawk aces of the MTO" by Carl Molesworth says: On the morning of 14 August 1942, six pilots of the 57 FG were assigned to fly with No 260 Sqd RAF while providing top cover for 12 South African Boston bombers attacking Fuka station.

So it seems that there were around 23 bombers escorted by 52 P40s of 2 SAAF,4 SAAF,5 SAAF, 260 and 57FG that attacked in the early morning Fuka and Daba

And now let's see the air combats:

Fighters over the Desert: (...) 4 SAAF, flying top cover reported being attacked by seven plus Bf 109s and MC 202s. Lt Wilson and Lt. Hancock failing to return and Lt. Woodliffe belly-landed his aircraft at base with badly damaged tail unit. (...).
Shores&Ring then described the actions and concluded suggesting that four pilots of the 260/57 formation failed to return but were all reported safe later, that makes for seven P40s shot down.
One of the pilots shot down was 1st Lt William O'Neil Junior of the 65 FS 57 FG, "P40 Warhawk aces of the MTO" reads: flying on the wing of Australian ace Ron Cundy, he spotted a Bf 109 below him to the right and broke off to attack it . He soon found himself overwhelmed by five Messerschmitt fighters and after a brief but fierce dogfight was shot down and bailed out over the Mediterranean sea (...).
The other three losses of the 260/57 formation are confirmed by Russel Brown in "Desert Warriors": The formation was consistently harried by Bf 109s of II/JG 27 and III/JG 53, losing two aircraft from top cover. Ron Cundy (ET 1016 HS-D) claimed one probable Bf109 and the CO Sqd. Ldr. Devenish, force-landed.
The South Africa losses are confirmed by "Eagles Strike" :
While on the way back home over LG 104 a storm of flak holed eleven of the twelve Baltimores and nine "enemy planes attacked" the escort without penetrating to the bombers and N°4 SAAF lost Lt. W.H. Hancock, Lt. D. Woodliffe belly landed as did a pilot of the USAAF tagging along for experience (...) fighters brought down one enemy aircraft but lost four in the attacks by Maccis and Messerschmitts, nine of which tackled 34 South African fighters.
Michael Lavigne and 260 veteran James Edwards in "Kittyhawks over the sands" gave a detailed reconstruction of the confused combats and concluded that two planes of the 260 were lost to enemy action: Sqd. Ldr. Devenish and W.O. Bowerman and one, P.O. Grant Aitchinson (HS-B AK 670) was heavily damaged by axis action but finished off by an Hurricane in error, force landing close to base.
Italian sources states that in the early morning Tenente Antonio Canfora of 97 Squadriglia 9° Gruppo 4° Stormo, scrambled with six C 202s of his Squadriglia and near Daba attacked a formation of twelve Maryland escorted by 18 P40. He claimed a P40 while a bomber and another fighters were claimed as probable, shared by the whole Italian formation. In the meantime at 6.15 due groups of bombers escorted by many fighters bombed Fuka destroying on ground a C 202 and damaging nine others.

Thus, considering that -as already noted in a previous post- the fourteen Luftwaffe fighters of JG 27 and 53 claimed during this action three P40 and a P46 (perhaps the Warhawk of O'Neil) as confirmed plus one P40 unconfirmed and two Curtiss hit (quoted by Shores&Ring) while the Italians claimed at least one P40 confirmed (perhaps a SAAF machine) and one probable, we can see as most likely all the confirmed claims (five of them) could find corroboration (seven losses), but also some of the unconfirmed ones, and it seems that this time the claims of Swallisch were not unfounded.
Hope this was of some interest.

Ludovico

Re: Uffz Sawallisch JG 27
 

Thanks Ludovico!
I found your info very interesting.

Juha