Luftwaffe losses near Minden, 1/30/1944
 

Hello,

Looking for information on any Luftwaffe losses that occurred in the Minden area on 30 January 1944.

My great-uncle was killed on a B-17 (42-31692) that was shot down on 30 January near Minden. The pilot, who survived, wrote in a letter to the families of the men killed on board that they were in a running battle with fighters (the pilot claims there were ME-109s, FW-190s, and ME-210s). In the "final" attack the B-17 was hit by "two fighters" (unknown type) which made a head on attack. The pilot states that the top turret gunner shot down the first fighter but the 2nd fighter scored the final hits that sent the B-17 down.

The B-17 crashed west-southwest of Minden so I'm assuming any German aircraft that was shot down would have come down in the vicinity of Minden also.

One possiblity I've found is a JU-88 piloted by Hptm. Albert Shulz from NJG2. He was apparently shot down and killed on 30 January 1944 while attacking B-17's. The fact that the two men in the front of Shulz's plane were killed while the rear gunner survived lead me to suspect Shulz was killed while making a head-on attack. He supposedly crashed "approximately 30 km" from Hameln, Germany....and Minden is 36 km from Hameln.

I'd welcome any other suggestions or possibilities.

Thanks,

Gene

P.S. - If anyone has any information on the B-17 shoot-down I would welcome that information also. Supposedly there are people that live near the location of the B-17 crash that still remember the events of that day. If anyone lives near Minden, I would welcome any information they might be able to obtain from the residents.

Re: Luftwaffe losses near Minden, 1/30/1944
 

He Gene,
JG 1 lost in the area Braunschweig (south east of Minden) a lot of planes, 7 Fw 190 shot down in combat with B-17 (3 pilots killed) also the JG 3 lost Messerschmitt Bf 109 in this area, Sturmstaffel 1 with Fw 190 also losses, and several Ju 88 and Bf 110 of different Nachtjagdgeschwader lost in the combat. I think it will be hard to figure out which one was in combat with your great uncles B-17.

Kind regards
khorat

Re: Luftwaffe losses near Minden, 1/30/1944
 

Khorat,

I greatly appreciate your reply. I'm far from an expert so I appreciate any assistance I can get.

I knew it was a long shot trying to figure out the exact aircraft or pilot...but I was hopeful.

Does it help narrow the list down significantly if I have an estimated time of the B-17 crash ?? Based on the B-17 crash, the combat with the German fighter would have been around 12:15 to 13:00.

Where did you obtain your information on the Luftwaffe units that lost aircraft ?? Is it something I can find on the internet ?? Maybe I could plot the location of where the German aircraft were lost and eliminate some of the possibilities ??

Thanks again,

Gene