September 6th, 1943
 

Gentlemen,

I would be very grateful if some expert from the community could give some details regarding an RAF raid by a formation of Bostons on September 6th, 1943.

From what I have gathered so far both I. and II./JG 2 filed one claim each, the first for a Boston at 15.03 German time - i.e. 14.03 British time - and the latter for a Spitfire at 14.35 German time. The e/a were said to have fallen in 05 Ost S / 0165 and 0178 respectively which is roughly the area between Rouen and Le Havre.

So far I have found no evidence or information of an RAF raid at around that time of the day. There were of course a number of twin engined bomber formations active over France on September 6th ( Ramrods S. 35 and S. 36 ), but none that I know of at exactly this time.

So any additional information would be much appreciated.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: September 6th, 1943
 

Would this be when Johnny Checketts was shot down off Cayeux?

Re: September 6th, 1943
 

Hello Chris,

many thanks for your kind and quick support. However, as far as I can see S/Ldr. Checketts was shot down in combat with Fw 190 - not Bf 109 - and considerably later in the day , i.e. around 19.10 hrs. German time. So he would not be a likely candidate.

To me it looks rather that the two German claims were in fact not reflected by British losses - which wouldn't be at all unusual, especially when you're looking at claims filed by JG 2 - so that a look into the RAF loss returns doesn't help to solve the problem. Instead there seems to be some likelihood that in fact all British a/c returned from this sortie after an inconclusive clash with some German fighters. Or both German claims did in fact relate to the evening raids and were filed under wrong times.

Cheers

Jochen Prien

Re: September 6th, 1943
 

Dear Jochen,

Just a thought: perhaps the claimed Boston was in fact a B-26 Marauder of the 9th AF and was the USAAF involved in the described action and not the RAF. The same for the Spitfire which was frequently mixed up with
P-51's and even P-47's.

Best regards,
Hans Nauta