Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Successful pilots against the Mosquito

Hi Erich,

thanks for the additional info.

From what I can gather from documentary sources, of the 8 claims listed in Welter's Wehrpass from March '45 onwards, 2 certain and one probable Mosquito Abschüsse were claimed by Welter on the night of 2-3 March 1945, and two certain Abschüsse were claimed by Welter on the night of 21-22 March 1945. In the latter case, an OKL Lw.FüSt Ic Luftlagemeldung states that 2 Me262 sorties were flown and three Mosquito Abschüsse claimed. An Abschussmeldung proves that K-H Becker flew one of the two sorties and made one claim. The same Abschussmeldung has a witness statement by Welter which indicates that he was airborne, thus it can be reasonably assumed that Welter flew the second sortie and claimed the other two Abschüsse.

In a post-war interrogation by the British, Welter claimed to have damaged one Mosquito and shot down another on the night of 3-4 April 1945. As the damaged Mosquito was actually attacked and claimed as destroyed by Lt. Altner (as verified by the Abschussmeldung and corresponding RAF Combat Report), Welter's testimony should be treated with suspicion.

While this gets outside the terms of the information originally requested in this thread, I believe that it goes towards showing that much more critical research is needed about the claims of Welter to seperate what can be established via documentary sources from some of the rubbish that has been published and over the years. And, due to the use of the Nonnenmacher claims list, I've been responsible for the publication of some of this 'rubbish'.

Cheers

Rod