27/4/1945:P-47? vs JV44
 

Which unit belonged to the P-47 shot down by JV44 on 27/4/1945?

Best Regards
Michel

Re: 27/4/1945:P-47? vs JV44
 

Hi Michel,

There are two MACRs for P-47s on 27 April 1945:

MACR 14329:

P-47 42-26379 27FG 524FS 2nd Lt. Alfred J Bond 0-2059214 KIA

MACR 14330:

P-47 42-27918 86FG 526FS 1st Lt. Paul j. Dornstadler 0-719286 KIA

From Joe Baugher:

42-26379 crashed from unknown cause while strafing vehicles s. of Durach, Germany

42-27918 shot down by Fw 190 D-9 believed flown by Fw Peter Koster of JV 44 1 mi. SE of Lemerdingen, Germany

best regards,

Jim Geens

Re: 27/4/1945:P-47? vs JV44
 

Hi Jim

If there are only 2 P-47 lost this day,so only that of 27° FG seems to correspond to the claims of JV44( five!!) or.... error of identification?Russian??
That of 86°FG (too far away) does not correspond at all to the area of operations of the JV44.

On the other hand,Koster(FRANZ) not Peter was a pilot on Me-262 and not on Fw.190 D9.
The JV44 pilots on D9 were the protective Schwarm:Karl-Heinz Hofmann,Klaus Faber,Heinz Sachsenberg,Waldemar Wubke,Bodo Dirschauer.Its function being only to protect the basis of JV44.

Michel

Re: 27/4/1945:P-47? vs JV44
 

In reading the two statements from pilots flying with Lt. Bond, it does not appear that any enemy aircraft were in the area when he crashed, nor did either notice any ground fire. Lt. Shaheen stated, "He hit flat, as if mushing in the pull out and skidded and skidded about two hundred yards leaving a trail of fire behind him." This does not clear up anything as far as JV 44 claims but does seem to rule out this P-47 as being a downed by a jet or FW 190.

Kent

Re: 27/4/1945:P-47? vs JV44
 

Hi Michel,

You are correct. On p. 86 and p. 93 of Jagdverband 44: Squadron of Experten, (2008), Robert Forsyth identifies Uffz. Franz Koster as a jet pilot from JG 7.
In Brown et al., Messerschmitt 262s of KG & KG(J) Units, (2010), p. 41, there is a photo of the original pasted strips of teletype of Hptm. Werner Gutowski's message to LFl. Kdo. 6 listing the last names of the pilots in JV 44 on 27 April 1944. At first there seems to be no mention of a Koster. However, there is a Uffz. Knier who I cannot identify and I suspect the telegrapher garbled the name Koster from a written list.

I also suspect that Joe Baugher took the name Peter Koster from one of these sites:

asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/Luftwaffe-aerial-victories-1945.html

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/1945.html

I have no idea why Joe Baugher associated this loss with a Fw 190 D-9.

As to there only being one P-47 loss compared to five claims, unless there were badly damaged P-47s with unharmed pilots that limped back to base, this must be another case of over-claiming.

Jim